


After Colony: Revelation

by Aeternus_Flamma



Category: Gundam & Related Fandoms, Gundam Wing
Genre: A.C. 201, Action/Adventure, Angst, Apocalypse, Complete, Drama, F/M, Four Horsemen, Human Experimentation, M/M, Novel Length, Romance, Science Fiction, Zombies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-15
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2017-12-23 12:48:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 123,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/926611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeternus_Flamma/pseuds/Aeternus_Flamma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The peace obtained after Mariemaia's regime was short lived. Her rule was doomed to fail from the start, but his was one that would last. He had spent years of his life dedicated to perfecting his weapons, and he would not be thwarted by any rebel forces. </p><p>The gundam pilots have no choice but to take up arms once more, this time facing four new models-- the White Horse, the Red Horse, the Black Horse, and the Pale Horse. Throughout their battle, the pilots realize what extreme length enemy leader Dorian Adelphie has gone to in order to achieve his victory. Even the hardened boy soldiers are not prepared for the inhumanity they are forced to witness, or the friends that they lose.</p><p>[After a very, very long hiatus, I've started updating chapters. Improved chapters starting with 7. Writing shift, chapter 12 onward. Though romance is listed as a tag, in almost all cases, it is 'blink and you'll miss it romance.' It is not the focus of this story.]</p><p>[Epilogue now posted, which immediately precedes After Colony: Rebirth]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Verse 1

 

The year is After Colony 201. The peace that followed Mariemaia Kushrenada’s surrender was almost as short as her reign. It was not long until yet another potential dictator rose up to the challenge of controlling the world and the colonies, together in unity.

As the young Kushrenada stated, war is nothing more than an endless waltz. As soon as one opponent was out of the way, the next appeared.

 For Dorian Adelphie, the emphasis on peace over military power provided him with ample opportunity. After all, so many military strong holds and rebel forces had fallen to the false notion of peace while believing it was actually obtainable. They were very much mistaken. They cursed themselves upon discovering that their decisions to destroy their means of defense, mobile dolls and suits, were incredibly rash actions.

Adelphie had been building his forces before Dekim Barton’s plans had been set into motion. As a former member of the Romefeller foundation, he immediately recognized the openings for disaster that Barton had created. Sitting back, the Italian aristocrat merely relaxed while both the world and space militaries wasted away their resources on a pointless war that was destined to end.

Unbeknownst to the fighting troops of Mariemaia’s Army, they would all have fallen due to internal failures, had the gundams not finished them off first.

Since he did not need his super weapon, Adelphie instead used his time to perfect it.

Caligo Sese, the organization that now ruled over the space and land, started out as Dorian Adelphie’s corporation. It was, at the time, a global and spatial market that focused on military development and experimentation. While much of it had been temporarily shut down because the Barton Foundation sought to become the only force with military capabilities, it was allowed to continue what was considered rather harmless research. Caligo Sese was viewed as a neutral entity and thus permitted to thrive as long as it was not seeking to be an opposition. The _harmless_ research, however, would prove to be some of the most useful and powerful developments to be created.

The world of information systems can be either extremely boring or extremely fascinating, depending on the individual. Adelphie, seeing a prime opportunity in a world that was heavily reliant on computers and technological connections, built himself a supercomputer which had the ability to get into almost any network. With his own private force of mobile dolls and mobile suits, as well as support from his old Romefeller allies, he seized power.

Without the means to retaliate, Dorian Adelphie has remained in power as the Caligo Sese Joint World-Colony Prime Minister.

Until recently, the Gundam pilots had decided to try and stay out of the war that rebels tried to fight. It was a choice made with reluctance, but there was not much more to be done, considering that their Gundams seemed almost obsolete. While their mobile suits had been destroyed after the Barton Foundation incident, they had still attempted to fight with the other, smaller military powers, using other suits. All was useless. Adelphie’s supercomputer shut down their systems shortly after the start of an attack. There was no way to retaliate effectively, which ultimately led to the capture of 02 and 05, Due Maxwell and Chang Wufei.

After almost a year, rebel forces were once again ready to take a stand against the Caligo Sese Joint World-Colony Organization.

_000_

“How are things progressing?” Quatre Raberba Winner asked as he brought a bottle of water over to Heero Yuy. The dark haired, twenty one year old looked up momentarily, only to reach out for his drink. Quatre had been using his family funds to provide resources for scientists to develop a system that could block their biggest problem—the supercomputer of Adelphie. It had been a challenge since he constantly had to move the project around to advert suspicion from the ever spying CSO.

“Not really sure,” Yuy stated in his typical monotonous voice, “it’s all installed, but it’s really got to be tested before we can be sure. Honestly, though,” he said as he hopped out of the mobile suit’s cock pit, “I don’t think the barriers will last long. I can just tell by the way they’re running. It’s a powerful firewall, but it starts to weaken after a duration. If we use it, we’ve got to do what we need to do, fast.” The blonde looked down and shook his head.

“I suppose that’s better than nothing… but we really aren’t making any progress, are we?”

Heero shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. We’re doing better than anyone else out there working against CSO, of that I’m sure. I’ll just feel better as soon as we have Chang and Maxwell out of their hands and with us.”

“We should hurry,” the voice of the young man called Trowa Barton echoed up from a few levels below the other two, “it took a while, but I caught a glimpse inside of the Organization. You know how we suspected that they did a lot of human experimentation? I have a bad feeling that they’re turning their sights onto our companions.”

“What do you mean?” Quatre asked his close friend, his voice hinting at a bit of panic.

“Duo’s scheduled in one of their labs a few days from now. I couldn’t get anymore—I was shut out of their system again. I will probably have to be in a new location before I can try to get back in. The worst part, however, is that I can’t tell if this will be the first time they will undergo experimentation or if this has happened before,” Barton explained. Even he, rather good at hiding his emotions, was clearly concerned over the matter. After the pilots, the three remaining pilots at least, had come into contact with a few CSO soldiers, they had become suspicious. It seemed almost as if the men had been brainwashed into following orders. Certain marks that the soldiers all had around their temples and at the base of their necks were also a clue as to what might have happened.

“In that case,” the former Wing Zero pilot said, “we need to make our move relatively soon. Who knows what they could do to him, or what they’ve already done.”

_000_

“Hey, Wu-man, you still up?”

“Maxwell, if you call me that one more time, I swear I will murder you as soon as I get my hands on you,” the Chinese male, who had been thrown back into his holding cell about forty five minutes prior, growled at Duo. He had been pulled out for more of the random testing that both he and the other Gundam pilot had been going through. They had been caged up for what they guessed to be nearly a year. They would be pulled in and out for different things—physical endurance testing, mental stress exams, and sometimes drug experiments. It had started out that they were doing mostly the same things, Duo and Wufei, but lately, it seemed that Duo was being put through more medical tests and such. Chang, on the other hand, was taking part more and more in physical observations.

“That’s unlikely. We haven’t even been in the same room for ages,” Duo said and rolled his eyes. “Anyhow, what did they have you do this time?”

“It seemed to be training of some sort. I’m starting to wonder if I’m just becoming one of their forms of amusement—that same woman was nearby, also sparring. She had a crowd gathering. There were only maybe two doctors around, watching me. Most were soldiers who were lined up to watch their friends put on great displays of weakness,” Wufei stated and sighed. He did not enjoy being someone’s dancing monkey. Duo made a whining noise in response.

“I would much rather be doing that. They keep tying me up to take blood tests and inject me with stuff. I’m not entirely sure, but I’m really starting to think they did something to my head. Remember when I was gone for those two weeks? I’m pretty sure I was put under for that time, and they did something to me. They shaved part of my precious hair away! I’m so pissed! I’ll have to cut it when we get out of here. . .”

“If we get out of here.”

“Oh, we will,” replied the brunette, “the guys will come for us eventually. We’ve always got each others’ backs.”

“You’ve been saying that for months now, and we’ve had no sign from any of them. I think it would be more likely, at this point, that they’ve abandoned us,” said Wufei, being completely serious. Most people would have had at least a hint of hopelessness in their voices, but he did not. It was more of an uncaring comment.

“No, I think they’ll come. I know they’ll come.”

No matter how much he wished to stay optimistic however, the notorious God of Death was even starting to wonder. He had been hoping, everyday, that his comrades would show up miraculously to save the two of them. But with each day that passed now, doubt started to creep inside and affect his mentality. Still, he felt that some hope was better than none, and it would help him keep a bit stronger.

A few days later, something happened that was beyond their normal routine. Both Chang and Maxwell were escorted out at the same time. For a brief moment, the brunette had hoped that they would actually get a chance to interact, but he was mistaken. He was taken right back to the medical wing of the building they were confined to while his Chinese friend was moved in the opposite direction. “Oh, c’mon, not more of this!” Duo snapped angrily, trying to struggle against the CSO guards dragging him along. It was useless. He tried every time, and every time, he failed.

“Strap him in,” stated the doctor who was regularly waiting for Gundam 02’s pilot. The guards moved the brunette to the reclined medical seat and held both of his forearms to the arms of the chairs while a male nurse used the leather bindings to hold him down. After, they bound his legs. This was nothing new to Duo; it was the same process each time. Next would come the injection to his arm and the inhalation of knockout gas. They had recently starting upping the dosages, however, because he was becoming increasingly resistant to the chemical combination. As to what they did to him while he was sleeping, he wasn’t entirely sure. He woke up with strange pains and numbness. Since they were just all over his body, he couldn’t even tell where they had ‘messed’ with him.

The self proclaimed God of Death’s eyes shut and rolled back into his head. “Good,” the doctor said, “now let’s get started, shall we?”

 

Wufei, on the other hand, was much luckier in what he was forced to do. There was no binding, no injections, no seedy doctors. He was told to change and was a bit surprised. Usually, he was told to put on a more appropriate outfit to spar in with some of the other men who were skilled in martial arts, but today, he was given a full uniform. It was very much like the ones he would have worn on his own colony for a formal match. “What, might I ask, am I doing?”

“The Prime Minster is visiting with some of his family. A weapons exhibition match has been organized as a form of entertainment. It would be best if you put on a good show,” one of the guards grunted. Wufei nodded silently and changed. He tied the sash around his waist and turned back to the men who had escorted him over to the locker room near a gym like area: he had spent much time in recently. Seeing that he was ready, they walked him out and into wide open space. There were bleachers pulled out and a special section reserved for the Prime Minister—he could tell because it was blocked off with red velvet rope and had armed guards surrounding the entire section. He supposed it was best not to instigate, not with the other Gundam pilot currently held captive in the medical section of the building.

Wufei stood on one side of the slightly raised platform that had been temporarily constructed in the center of the room. He wondered which poor sap was going to be chosen to fight against him while he waited quietly. Closing his eyes, he mentally prepared himself. He was expecting to win—no one had yet been good enough to last long in a full match against him. The young Chinese male only opened his eyes once more when an older soldier stepped into the center and started to make the starting announcements.

“The first one to do debilitating damage will be declared the winner; said damage will be interpreted by the Prime Minister. Each opponent may choose one weapon. A new weapon may be chosen only when the previous one has been discarded—either by choice, or by disarmament. If one wishes to wield two weapons at once, it may only be with his or her own weapon and a discarded weapon of the opponent. At the whistle, the match begins. Chose your weapons now,” the announcer for the match explained to the crowd and to the two actually taking part in the match.

As the soldier stepped away, Chang could see his opponent. He was only _slightly_ surprised to see a certain young woman standing, looking at him with mild curiosity. He turned to a table lined with a small variety of weapons. Well, it was _supposed_ to be a variety, at least. It was just blades really, different sizes and shapes. For a proficient swordsman like himself, he could wield all of with excellence.

It did not take him very long to find himself a Chinese short blade that he was comfortable with and turn back to his opponent. She watched carefully to see which weapon he picked, and then chose the same one. She stepped forward and waited for the whistle to blow.

“The match consists of Chang Wufei verses Edan. Begin,” the announcer finished and brought the whistle to his mouth, blowing it. The small crowd behind him fell silent, waiting for the action to begin. As Wufei took a step to the side, moving to see what his opponent would do, he momentarily thought that it was strange the announcer did not provide the young woman’s full name. He did not dwell on it as he readied himself to make a move.

With each step he took, she took another, maintaining their distance. The two were staring each other down, sizing each other up. While Wufei would have liked to think, _‘oh, she’s just a woman,’_ he really couldn’t. He knew that she frequently drew a crowd and, though he had never really had the opportunity to see why, he was sure that was with reason. Finally, deciding that he was done with their lack of action, took one step and then another, and then leapt at the female. He moved himself in a way that had him low and aiming above his center of gravity. He wanted to see why they thought she was good enough to defeat _him._

She used her own blade to block the blow, using her palm against the flat side to steady her sword as she pushed his weapon away. He spun himself around to immediately attack again, hoping to catch her off guard. He was not surprised that she was once again able to parry his attack. As he tried to take one more hit, it was clear that she was no longer going to stand back and simply defend. She took a step forward, moving both of them back towards the center of their little stage, the two of them exchanging blows. To Chang, it seemed that this exhibition-like match was going to be more training for him than any of his recent physical exams or tests, or any of the matches set up for him against other soldiers.

The Chinese male wondered again, for a small time, who it was that he was facing. The girl seemed to have gone through significant training, considering the way she was able to hold her own against him, despite the fact that she was physically not as strong. She seemed to understand perfectly how to use her weight to her advantage, being sure to counter at certain angles, maximizing her efficiency. This one called Edan though did not appear to be a solider—she was not in a uniform, but a similar outfit to the one Wufei was wearing. She had dark hair pulled up high, with bangs every now and then falling into her eyes, which were unique enough, her left eye green and her right blue. All in all, she did not display the characteristics that all of the female soldiers seemed to share.

Chang was pulled from his thoughts by cheering from the crowd. Fighting was almost mechanical to him, automatic, barely thinking. Even though he had not been entirely concentrating on his fight in front of him, it seemed he had been able to land a blow, his blade grazing his opponents arm and creating a thin line of blood. She frowned and quickly used her shoulder to push him away, and bringing her blade down as she swung around, knocking his sword from his hand. Being without a weapon, he backed up, as did she, apparently waiting to see the verdict from the Prime Minister.

The crowd of soldiers turned their attention to the head of the Caligo Sese Joint World-Colony Organization. He was an attractive aristocrat in his mid fifties with slightly graying, black hair. More distinctly, he could always be seen wearing a three piece suit. He sat with his daughter, the lovely Moira Adelphie. She, like her father, also had dark hair. It was pulled back into a high bun, and she wore a black suit as well. She worked with her father, training to succeed him when he finally chose to retire from his organization and corporation.

Dorian Adelphie raised his hand and shook his head. No, Wufei’s blow was not enough to end the match and give him a victory. It would continue, but he would have to choose another weapon since Edan had knocked his away. Wufei, groaning, went back to the weapons’ line and grabbed yet another blade. It was longer than his previous sword and curved at the end. He stalked back into the square ring and took his stance. This time, it was his opponent who started the attack.

She jumped forward and he met her halfway, their blades hitting. He pushed her back to try to take a swing, but he was surprised by her next movement. She switched hands, moving from fighting with her right to her left hand. Edan narrowly missed slashing Chang across his chest. He jumped backwards to put some space between the two of them and to reevaluate his situation. Close combat was much different when the opponents did not have the same dominant hand. She, it appeared, was ambidextrous. He was sure of it when she casually walked to his discarded blade and picked it up. His opponent had chosen to wield two weapons.

The Gundam pilot glanced around to see some of the soldiers watching start to nod. It seemed that they had known about her skill beforehand.

They resumed exchanging hits. It was much harder for him to keep up with only one weapon. He knew that she now had the upper hand, and he would have to accept defeat. The problem he now had was she doing nothing more than toying with him. Edan had the ability to end their match at any point, but she was, apparently, just putting on a good show. He hated that—matches were displays of strength, and victory belonged to he, or she, who was the strongest. It was not for mere entertainment, for which the two of them were currently meant. “It’s a lowly act to use battle for pleasure,” Wufei growled through gritted teeth as he used most of his strength to hold back to the two blades. “If you were a true warrior, you would end this match properly.”

It seemed that he had hit something his opponent. He could tell as he looked up at her fully for the first time. He locked eyes with her, but immediately wished he hadn’t. He did not like the way she seemed to just… stare. But, for a brief moment, he could see that there was a spark of something—be it irritation or what not, it seemed his point was made. She pulled away and quickly ducked down, once again using her shoulder and upper body to push him away. This time, however, she more or less tackled him to the ground, pinning him. She had a leg on either side of his chest, her blades crossed at his neck. She shoved them into the wooden stage, far enough that when she let go, they held their position. Wufei didn’t dare move, knowing that he was inches away from getting his throat sliced open.

Edan stood and placed her heel on his right hand, applying pressure. Though he didn’t want to let go and release yet another weapon, she hit a nerve and he cringed in pain. Wufei’s fingers uncurled from his blade and she reached down, snatching it up. She used it to slice down the length of his left forearm, leaving a deep gash—much, much worse than the one he had given her. The Prime Minster approved and Edan silently turned and walked off of the stage. He watched her from the corner of his eye, very much irritated with the way she had defeated him. Perhaps it was his own fault that he pushed her instead of letting her take his(her?) own course. Still, he was in such a position that he was stuck, unable to pick himself up from his loss. And oh, how he hated losing to a woman.

One of the guards who had led him from his holding cell walked over to him and grabbed the end of one sword. He sighed and haphazardly pulled. He was shocked when the blade barely budged. His companion walked over and gave him a quizzical look, while Wufei stared down the edge of the blade cautiously. The weapons were deep in the wood, and if they were not careful, he could _still_ be injured, despite the fact that the match was over. The other guard took a handkerchief from his pocket and beckoned the soldier who still had one hand on the hilt of the sword to give him his own cloth as well. With both pieces of fabric in hand, the solider wadded them up and put them against Wufei’s neck, just as a bit of added precaution. The guard steadied himself and gripped the handle with both hands. After a few light tugs, he pulled with a great deal of strength. The sword jerked out and he stumbled backwards. Wufei was glad for the padding against his skin—he would have surely been bleeding without it.

He groaned and rolled away from the other weapon before standing up. Rubbing his neck, Chang glanced around to see what had happened to his opponent. He spotted her trying to get towards and exit, but it seemed there was an obstacle in her way. Another female was talking to her, smiling brightly, even hugging her. Perhaps she was being congratulated on her victory? This new young woman was blonde, also with her hair pulled up, but it was in a sloppy pony tail. His eyes narrowed as he watched her practically bounce towards the Prime Minister. The guards cleared a path for her with ease.

She walked right up to the man, who was possibly the most protected person in their solar system at the moment, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He smiled at her and took her hands as they began to talk. Wufei raised a brow. He vaguely recognized her—he had probably seen her around at some point through his duration as a prisoner. He didn’t think he had ever figured out who she was. As the guards went to either side of him to escort him back to the locker room so that he could change, he continued to watch as the Prime Minister carefully examined the blonde girl’s hands, gently flexing her fingers with interest, as if he had never seen such limbs before. Though he would have liked to observe some more, Chang did not have the opportunity, as he was soon pulled into the opposite direction.

After he had thrown on the uniform that signified his status as a prisoner, and he took his grand old time doing so, he walked back out before the guards could come in after him. They led him out, back down the same hallways he had been walking for the next month. “Who was the blonde who walked up to the Prime Minister? She seemed awfully comfortable with him. . .” He made the casual comment once they were a few hundred feet away from the large gym like room, hoping that the soldiers wouldn’t see it as threatening and answer anyhow.

It took a few moments, but it seemed one of them decided to answer, “That’s his daughter, Isabella.”

“Really?” Wufei asked, surprised, “she doesn’t look a thing like him. I knew of Miss Moira Adelphie, but I’ve never heard of an Isabella. She’s never been in the papers with her father or sister, I guess.”

“She’s not an Adelphie,” the other guard answered, his voice giving away his cautiousness, “she was born out of wedlock. She’s of the Vespasian Valentinian family. It would be better if you didn’t ask any questions. It will only cause you trouble.” The Chinese male did not respond in any way, but was glad to know this information. It was what he had been doing during the entire time of his captivity: quietly gathering as much information as he could before they were rescued. Yes, even he had hopes that the fellow Gundam pilots would rescue both he and the braided baka, but he didn’t tell the other captive that.

When he finally made it back to his cell, the guards unlocked his shackles and locked him away. Chang looked through the small opening that connected to Duo’s chamber, but Duo was nowhere in sight. “I wonder what they’ve got him doing. . .”

_000_

“This is Doctor Thrice, head neurosurgeon,” a voice spoke into a recorder, “we are now entering phase three of the Black Horse project. Specimen has been under for three hours now.” The device was set aside by one of the nurses standing around the reclined medical chair so that the doctors could proceed with their work. “Implant.”

They had spent an hour with small bone saws, cutting away at small bits of their specimen’s skull. They had been preparing for their actual entrance for a while, after injections and optical surgeries… It was time for the final step in their experiment. They had gone through three previous, similar but different experiments—White Horse, Red Horse, and Green Horse. Now, their final project was to be completed on a Gundam pilot. It took a few hours of painstakingly accurate work, but they were finally finished, at least with the third stage. The fourth was the last part, though it would have to be done at another time. The young man’s mind needed time to recuperate, or else it would surely shut down on itself.

“We will have him moved back whenever everything is settled. He’s in a weak state and we don’t want to destroy our progress,” Thrice said and pulled off his now slightly bloodied gloves. “Keep the room secured.” After he washed up, he and the other surgeons left the medical room.

Maxwell was left, bound by his arms and legs, as well as with a brace to keep his head from moving, sitting in the chair.

He had no idea what was happening to him. When he would return from the medical rooms, back to his holding cell, Duo might have a really bad headache, or strained eyesight, but that was it. He had no idea what they were doing to him once he was knocked out, or how long he had been knocked out. Sometimes he would wake up to find himself still bound, but would pass out shortly after from unexplained pain or the sudden reapplication of drugs. Hours after his stage three surgery, he woke up with possibly the worst migraine he had ever had.

_000_

“Let’s see, let’s see, what room did I have to pick up that disc in?” A certain blonde asked herself as she walked down one of the deserted hallways in the medical wing, a finger tapping her lips thoughtfully. Finally, she stopped at the end, and then looked back down at the rooms she had passed. “Was it G-34 or… maybe not? Well, I guess that I can try that one first, it seems to ring a bell?” She shook her head and shrugged, trying to stop her continuous speaking.

 It was a bad habit of hers to talk out loud. It came from all of her time spent with computers instead of actual people.

She walked a few yards ahead and stopped at the door. When she tried to open it, however, she found that it was indeed locked. “Not that a locked door has ever stopped me,” she muttered and ran her fingers over the key pad to the right of the metal.

She started to input certain digits; mostly a series of ones and zeros, much like a computer binary code. For her, Isabella Vespasian Valentinian, perhaps the foremost expert in her field, a simple computerized lock was little more than a brain exercise. The green light that gave her access lit up, and the door slid open. “Now, my little disc-y wisky, where are you..? What the fu-?”

Isabella had entered the medical room, expecting to find it empty and her disc sitting right in the open for her, but that was not the case. The room was very much occupied.

There was a male, roughly about her age, strapped down to a chair, with equipment sitting out to be sterilized. He looked like he was in a great deal of pain. But she had to wonder, as an image seemed to flash before her eyes, why did the scene seem so oddly familiar?

“Hey,” the male said weakly, his voice clearly revealing that he was trying to smile, “come here?”

Isabella looked around to make sure that he wasn’t talking to anyone else. No. It was just here in the room. She stepped in, away from the door, which slid shut behind her automatically. She walked closer to the patient, but stayed far enough away that she wasn’t in a bad position. “Um, yeah?” She asked slowly, her eyes scanning for the needed computer equipment.

“My name’s Duo,” he said, “it would be great if you could help me. I’m not asking for anything really, I just have the worst headache, and my legs are falling asleep. Could you just loosen up these bounds?”

“Please, you don’t really think I’m that much of an idiot, do you?” Isabella asked, frowning, “I know who you are. You’re one of the former Gundam pilots. Even if I wanted to help you, I can’t. My father would murder me.” She, standing much taller now, waltzed over to a table to the side and started looking through the papers. She was looking for a disc with the Mountain Tree project on it, and she was told that it was left in one of the medical rooms, either G-34 or G-35.

She was starting to think that she was in the wrong room.

“Like I said, I’m not asking for real help. I’m just really uncomfortable, and I’m not sure how long I’m going to have to stay here—or how long until I’m put under again.”

Isabella shook her head, ignoring him. She continued leafing through the papers on the table, but soon stopped. Something had caught her eye. There was a disc sitting under a folder entitled _Black Horse_. She had acquired information based off of a project called _Red Horse._ Was it possible that this was along those same lines? She desperately hoped not, considering she knew what terrible acts had been done in coincidence with the other project.

“What’s your name, at least?” Duo persisted, trying to get some conversation from the young woman. He was hoping to stay awake for at least a bit of time, “you don’t look like a doctor or nurse, and definitely not a soldier.”

“Why?” She replied in a snappish tone as she sat down at a nearby computer system, popping the disc into the drive, copying the information directly into the network so that she could retrieve it from her own private computer once she returned to her apartment two blocks away from the military facility. The entire colony, which was more like a large space station really, since it wasn’t as big as a colony and entirely for CSO use, was made up of military buildings with different uses, storage units for mobile suits and dolls, and living quarters for some of the families of the soldiers and staff who worked full time on the bases. “I’m not a soldier because I’m a woman?”

“No. . .” Maxwell said slowly, a confused look on his face, “I didn’t say that. You just don’t look like one of the soldiers. You aren’t wearing a uniform.”

“Oh,” she responded absently, “I guess that’s true. Isabella.”

Duo smiled his typical goofy grin, but then groaned from a sudden pain coming from somewhere in his head. “Well, Miss Isabella, I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble or anything, but it would be extremely appreciated if you could really just loosen up the leg bonds. I’m not asking you to take them off—my circulation is just being cut off.”

The blonde did not give any indication that she had heard him. Instead, she continued typing away at the computer. He sighed and exhaled, deciding that it was rather futile to continue. After some moments, or, more particularly, after the computer started beep, she jumped up and looked at the bound boy. With her hands on her hips, she cocked her head to the side, analyzing the situation before her. “Okay, but you can’t tell anyone that you saw me in here, agreed?”

“Definitely!” Duo grinned again and started to try to move his legs around. She kneeled down and started to fiddle around with the metal latches, trying to loosen it up just a bit. Though he would have liked to trick her and try to escape, he couldn’t. He wouldn’t be able to get his arm out of his restraints. However, he would take what he could get, and work from there. As soon as the leather on his legs started to let up, he moaned in pleasure. “Dear Lord, that feels so much better.”

“Remember, I was never in here,” Isabella said, “I’m sure the doctors will be back in soon.”

“Thanks very much, Isabella!” The braided young man called out as the blonde turned her back and started walking away.

_000_


	2. Verse II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pilots 01, 03, and 04 go through with their plan to rescue their comrades. While things rarely go as planned, they certainly were not prepared for the consequences of their actions.

“Everything ready?” Heero asked as he started up the transport shuttle holding his temporary mobile suit.

“We’re ready for launch,” Trowa responded from a separate shuttle. The three gundam pilots were all preparing to launch from a CSO military base in the LX-1066 district. They were disguised as CSO cargo shuttles transporting suits to the main base. It had taken a while to procure all of the necessary utilities—the actual shuttles being the hardest ones, and even harder to reprogram so that they wouldn’t be noticed as stolen. Whenever the order came in to their district, they blended right in with the other soldiers flying off to deliver their loads.

Their suits, bearing the new system to block the viruses from their enemy, were safely resting within their carriers. The pilots shot off, soon filing in with the other shuttles. “Carriers 1492, 1493, and 1494 checking in,” Heero stated as they neared the mass of other transporters. A screen popped up, requesting visual transmission. He had no choice but to accept. A female soldier’s image appeared and eyed him suspiciously. Yuy’s gaze never wavered; he even saluted to her, deciding that her uniform indicated that she was a ranking official.

“I was not aware that the 1066 base as also sending in suits to the main district,” she replied cautiously, waiting for his response.

“Ma’am, our suits were under repair here and currently require system procedures that are not available from our base. Our approval for main base maintenance just went through a few hours ago,” Heero replied, relaying their story. Trowa had hacked into the system and did some snooping to find a believable reason for them to get into the main base.

“What, exactly, is wrong with this set of mobile suits?”

“Virus, or so we think. We need to have it corrected and an antivirus created in case the rebels try to use it on more troops,” said Wing Zero’s pilot. His response warranted him a shocked expression.

“Your suits have also been infected?” The female soldier asked and then continued, “we thought we were an isolated case… Permission to join the fleet is granted. Fall into place.” The transmission ended. The conversation had taken an unexpected turn—Heero was not aware that there actually _were_ viruses plaguing some of CSO’s troop. They had counterfeited their story. He did not dwell on this new fact and instead he rejoined, with Barton and Winner behind him. Once they were in the transport carrier fleet, surrounded by mobile dolls as escorts.

 

It took about forty eight hours to travel to the main base. They stopped for an hour to refuel in a military owned resource satellite, but the gundam pilots avoided all contact with any other soldiers. While that was hard enough, Quatre also had to keep his head down, since many of the workers had worked for the Winner family at one point or another.

They continued on, and eventually docked. When they did, the three met up and agreed that it was best to return with their friends within an hour. They had five suits stored for their get away, and they didn’t want to risk the maintenance workers discovering their antivirus firewalls. If anyone were to look too closely, they would surely be discovered as rebels.

Heero set off to search out Duo while the other two went to find Wufei. They went right, to the facility where the prisoners were held. Their Chinese friend, for the majority of the time, was retained in his cell. They hoped it wasn’t going to be too difficult to convince his guards to at least move him from his high security room. Maxwell, on the other hand, was in the medical wing, being prepped for something that surely wouldn’t be good.

Yuy navigated his way to the opposite end of the base’s facilities to where pilot 02 was supposed to be. He passed a few soldiers and doctors on his way, but no one questioned him. Down one hallway, left through another, right down another. He stopped eventually, and looked between two rooms, G-34 and G-35. He had watched someone walk into 34, and Duo was scheduled for 34. Carefully, he approached the door while he reached beneath his uniform jacket and pulled the gun he had hidden.

Not all soldiers were given permission to carry a gun, and the poor fool who had been knocked out so that Heero could have his uniform was not supposed to have one.

As he reached the door, he momentarily contemplated trying one of the many key codes he had memorized, but that idea passed. The security pad was blinking green, and all he had to do was press enter. Whoever had just walked in had used a temporary bypass code that gave access for a short period of time. The door slide open and he pointed the gun at the only person in the room as he walked in.

“If you move, I will shoot,” he stated quite seriously. Sitting at a computer about four yards in front of him was a young blonde woman, reading the information scrolling down the screen. “Duo Maxwell. Where is he?” He had been expecting to find a handful of doctors and a few soldiers, as well as the other pilot. But she was alone.

“G-35,” the blonde replied, quite casually, “he’s usually scheduled for this room, but they moved him because intruders were detected. I’m assuming that means you.”

“Hn.”

“You won’t be able to get into the other room,” she continued, “they’ve changed all of the codes since you were detected. I’m sure they’re waiting for you to go in. They have a camera outside of the door. Walk me out with the gun to my head, and I’ll enter the code to open the door for you. They won’t shoot when the door opens if they see me. “

“And why would you agree to do that.”

“Because,” the blonde carefully swirled around in her chair to look at him, “I’m not heartless. I don’t approve of what they’re doing to him. He should get out of here as soon as he can.” While Heero would have liked to ask the young woman more questions, he knew that he didn’t have time.

He waved the gun, indicating that she should stand and come to him.

She nodded, quickly typed something that looked like a sort of command, and then closed out of whatever she was looking at on the computer screen. Once she stood, she walked with her hands behind her head and her fingers laced together. The pilot of Wing Zero watched her intently before allowing her to exit, staying only a step or two behind her. They crossed the hallway together and she reached to the key pad to enter a long sequence of numbers. He suspected that it was the same sort of bypass code that she had used to get into the other room.

When the door opened, the first thing he saw a small line of soldiers aiming to shoot him. However, just as the blonde had predicted, not a single one budged while she was standing in front of him.

The second thing he saw was Duo, strapped down to a medical chair. His eyes peered at the two of them and he smiled weakly. “Isabella, hey.” It was clear by the way he spoke that he was under the influence of drugs, probably to weaken him. At that moment, Heero pushed the blonde forward, into a soldier, who was pushed back and into a metal table, causing him to pull the trigger on his weapon. The bullet hit the wall, and the fighting started.

The pilot shot one soldier immediately, who fell backwards, sprawled out on the floor. The blonde, that Heero now discovered was called Isabella, was ducked down to avoid the flying bullets. Out of the corner of his eye, Yuy could see that she _accidentally_ slid her leg out from under herself, causing another soldier to trip over her when he backed up. Heero used that moment to his advantage and shot that soldier as well. It didn’t take long for him to finish with the other three, one of whom was the male who he had shoved Isabella into.

When they all lay on the floor motionless, Heero made his way to the braided young man, unstrapping him. The girl stayed on the floor so that if she was seen, it did not look like she was aiding in their escape.

_000_

While pilot 01 was busy rescuing pilot 02, pilots 03 and 04 were busy trying to spring pilot 05.

“Trowa.”

“Yes, Quatre?”

“Do you find it a little odd that we haven’t encountered any other soldiers? We _are_ in the prison wing after all,” the wealthy blonde asked his partner. The brunette sighed and nodded.

“In fact, I was just thinking the same thing. Something isn’t right. I’m starting to suspect that they know we’re here,” Trowa replied as they turned a corner. They faced the hallway where apparently Wufei was housed. To their surprise, they were met not with guards, but with a single person—a young woman who was crouched down and leaning against the cell door that surely had Chang behind it. Her eyes were closed, and it looked almost like she was sleeping. She wasn’t dressed as a soldier, but rather as a civilian. She had a tank top on and she was wearing jeans, but she wasn’t wearing any shoes.

 The two pilots looked at one another oddly and slowly stepped forward. Once they were within about two yards of her and the steel door, she flared to life and she leapt at the two pilots, tackling Quatre. Trowa tried to grab her bare arms, but she easily slid through them.

She was on one knee, her slender fingers wrapped around the blonde’s neck as she stared at him with little expression. He started to choke from her tight grasp, but was released when Trowa grabbed her by her hair and dragged her away. Quatre sat up, holding his own hands to his neck as he tried to breathe. “The door!” Barton insisted as he struggled with the girl. She elbowed him in his stomach, and while he barely flinched, the little bit of wind knocked out of him was enough of a distraction to allow her to twist in his grasp.

She snatched his left wrist, twisting it in such a way that it was immediately dislocated. The brunette male sucked in sharply, but showed no other signs of registering the pain. He decided that the best thing to do was distract her long enough for Quatre to open Wufei’s cell.

Trowa had to admit, it was difficult to bring himself to want to hit a woman—if he did, he could imagine the scolding he would receive from Catherine. He hadn’t often had to harm females, but he supposed he had little choice. With his free, uninjured hand, Trowa used the pad of his palm to hit the girl square in the jaw. She stepped back because of the force but recovered immediately. She should not have been able to—it should have caused enough pain that a normal person would at least stop to hold the side of their face. It looked though she had barely registered it. She started to swing with her right hand, and, while he was focusing on that hand because he was expecting her to hit him with it, she brought her left hand up, readily break his nose.

However, neither blow came. She froze in place, her hand inches away from causing severe damage. Trowa, at that point, could see that the right hand had only been a distraction. Still, she didn’t fall through with her hit. He looked at her hard, questioning what was going to come next. It looked for a mere second that she was thinking about something. Without another moment’s notice, she pulled her hands back to her, dropping one at her side and the other behind her back, and watched the two men before her. “What’s going on Trowa?” Quatre asked as the cell door popped open, and Wufei hurried out to see what was going on.

“They know you’re here—they had her wait for you to come,” the Chinese male stated, holding out his shackled arm for Quatre to pick the lock on, “she was supposed to kill one of you and keep the other one as a captive.”

“Which one was supposed to stay alive?” Trowa asked, more out of curiosity than anything. Wufei shrugged.

“They didn’t specify, or, if they did, I didn’t hear them. How did you get her to stop?” The shackles fell to the ground and Wufei rubbed his wrists. He walked up to the young woman he knew to be called Edan and leaned forward so that he was at her eye level.

“We didn’t,” Barton replied, “she stopped on her own. Just. Stopped.”

“We really need to get out of here and try to get back to our suits—if we’re lucky, they haven’t figured out our entire plan,” the blonde said, his voice showing that he was a bit frantic. “Hopefully Heero and Duo are still okay.”

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Chang replied casually and frowned. “I owe you for the embarrassment that you caused me in our last battle. I would have won if you had not been so deceiving.” He directed his last comments to the woman, who barely blinked in response. He raised his arm and backhanded her across the same cheek that Trowa had hit her on. Her head turned to the side from the force and then continued to look straight ahead. No movement. No attempt to defend herself. “We’re even.”

“Come on,” Quatre insisted again, shifting his weight to show that he was uncomfortable with what Wufei had done, “we really need to get out of here.” The Chinese pilot turned as started to walk away, down the hallways he had come to know so well. Trowa and Quatre shared questioning glances before following after the other young man.

They took a moment to look over their shoulders to see that the woman who attacked them did not budge and inch—she stood quietly at attention.

As they retraced their steps, the gundam pilots made their way back to the hanger where their mobile suits were stored. It seemed that everyone was in an uproar, probably over their intrusion. However, that no one was able to particularly identify them as the intruders, being in their stolen CSO uniforms and all.

“We have mobile suits with modified systems to hold up against CSO’s disabling. We have to get out of here fast though because we aren’t sure how long it will be before they manage to break through our system,” Quatre explained as they ran towards their transport carrier. The one that he and Trowa had entered in was right where they had left it, and their weapons were thus safely secured inside of them.

“I hope it will be enough,” Wufei replied seriously, “I definitely don’t want to come back here again as a prisoner.”

“I wonder if Heero and Duo have made it to their carrier yet,” commented Trowa as they closed in on their ship. They did not reach it easily; there was someone standing in their way.

“You there!” A soldier called out, his gun aimed at the pilots, “you three, stop! The intruders, they’re here! They’ve got a prisoner with them!” Finally, someone had noticed that Wufei had escaped with the two dressed in CSO uniforms. Wufei and Trowa both went after the soldier, avoiding the gun shots. They knocked him out and continued on to retrieve their suits. They couldn’t wait around for the other two now.

They climbed up, avoiding more gunfire, and diving into the back section of the shuttle. The mobile suits were covered with large tarps, and they had to take a few moments to uncover each of the mobile suits that were suspended above one another for transport. Trowa hopped into the lowest suit as Quatre opened the bottom hatch to drop him out.  His suit slid through the opening with ease and he landed onto the ground of the base. Immediately, he caused extreme panic from the soldiers.

Wufei followed after Trowa, and Quatre dropped down last. Their timing was pretty good, considering they could just see Heero pulling a limp Duo into the base’s hanger with a great deal of force. While most of the soldiers would have paid attention to the two men, they were preoccupied with the rampage the other gundam pilots were on.

“Duo,” Heero said to the other pilot he was practically dragging towards the shuttle he had brought in, “assess yourself. Will you be able to pilot a mobile suit? If so, how long until the drugs wear off?” They had not planned for Duo to be drugged when they found him. They would have to change their plans if he wasn’t in any condition to pilot.

“I think I should be okay,” replied the braided male, his voice still weak. “Walking is just hard right now, that’s all.” It was a lie—everything was hard. He was barely able to keep his eyes open and wanted nothing more than to just lie down and sleep.

“I’m trusting you on that. We’re all going to be in danger if you can’t pilot your suit.” Heero continued to lead the other to the transport carrier. He was going to have to try to get Duo up to the level of their shuttle, and he wasn’t entirely sure how he would do that since Duo was feeling like nothing more than dead weight at the moment.

As they neared the metal staircase however, Trowa blocked them with his suit and leaned forward, his hand outstretched for the two to climb onto. Yuy complied and pulled Duo onto the large hand. Slowly, the former Heavyarms pilot lifted the two and set them on the appropriate level for their shuttle. Duo managed to slide off by himself to show that he was well enough to pilot, though Heero was still skeptical. Either way, they went in and to the back of the carrier. A few minutes later, they were joining the battle to escape the Caligo Sese Joint World-Colony Organization’s main space base.

They had to force their way out of the hanger. The main base was set up like a small colony. It had many different facilities and even a little bit of green space, but basically everything was connected. The hanger was the one way to get out of the colony since it had the only entrance and exit doors. The pilots forced their way out, bursting open the thick metal.

Of course, the pilots knew that there were back up doors in case of an accident that would seal to protect the rest of the base. When they exited, more mobile suits and dolls were waiting for them.

_000_

Their rendezvous point with Rashid was at a disposal satellite. One by one, each pilot docked to prepare to meet up with the pickup ship.  When Duo followed in last and had a rather rough time landing, the pilots rushed over to help get him out. They were shocked by what they found.

It seemed that the self proclaimed God of Death had passed out at some point during their trip, and his head was hanging limply to the side. He was lucky that he was strapped in, or else he could have been seriously injured. “Get him out,” Heero demanded of Trowa and Quatre, and together pulled the young man out. “If he’s been passed out, how was he flying the suit?”

“Heero, you should look at the screen,” the blonde replied, nodding towards the screens in Duo’s cockpit. The Japanese male moved over so that he could see.

There was an image of a white horse’s head revolving on the screens. As soon as the suit was shut down, however, it disappeared. 

When Rashid picked them up, they watched as the trash satellite went hurtling towards the sun. They wouldn’t risk CSO finding the only traces of their software, since it had the starts of a permanent antivirus on it. Along those same lines, their temporary base back in the LX-1066 region had to be moved so when soldiers started searching for them after tracing their movements, none of their work would be found. It was back to Earth—back to the desert, actually, where the four other pilots would crash with Quatre until their new suits were completed.

They had been able to survive so long without their gundams since they destroyed them about four years earlier. Now, it seemed that it was necessary for new weapons. 

The gundams had been under construction for the past year and a half, but there was no hurry on their completion. After all, it didn’t matter how powerful or how indestructible they were: CSO’s supercomputer would still be able to shut down their systems until they had ample technology to counter the viruses. At least now, though not perfected, they were on the right track.

_000_

_‘Project Black Horse:_

_Experiment three out of four. Neuro-computer chips are inserted into subject’s brain to maintain control over the subject. Computer chips in this case are not as advanced as in Project White Horse, nor as numerous as in Project Red Horse. If subject proves to be as resilient as Red Horse subject, however, more will be implanted._

_Subject has thus far completed up to stage three of the experiment. Actual testing in Black Horse has yet to commence. Basic control has been set up and can be used if necessary, though it is discouraged until state four has been completed. Connection to Project Green Horse not yet established; this can be done through Project White Horse subject.’_

There was much more contained within the file, but Isabella wasn’t interested in all of the technical medical procedures. What she _was_ concerned about was the fact that her father was continuing the experiments that he assured her he had completed with Edan, the Red Horse subject. She had seen what had come from this experimentation and she didn’t think _anyone_ deserved to go through that again. So, Isabella decided to help in the escape of Duo while he still had some hope of being saved.

She watched from her workstation’s monitors as the chaos unfolded in the hanger. As soon as the other gundam pilot had taken the braided fool away, she took off to go back to her apartment. From there, Isabella observed the screen and saw as the two prisoners left with the intruder.

She just let them go.

In fact, she continued her aiding. The young blonde tapped into the system of the mobile dolls, as she often did as her father’s private supercomputer. She managed to set up a form of autopilot so that Maxwell’s suit would stay constantly within the range of Heero Yuy’s suit, since she knew that the pilot was in no condition to try to maneuver on his own.

Considering that she actually had to break through a firewall, Isabella knew that they would escape on their own from there on out. She had built a virus that would shut down mobile suit systems a few years back, and her father had been using it to disarm his enemies. It seemed that the gundam pilots had pulled together their resources to make a temporary antivirus to counter her program’s effects. However, that didn’t mean they stood a chance against her—she could still worm her way into their systems on her own. But, as long as she wasn’t told to do it, she had no intention of doing so.

As for helping with Chang’s escape, well, perhaps Isabella also had a bit of a hand in that as well. Right before she closed out of her work in the medical wing, when Heero caught her, she had sent out a stand down command for Edan. Isabella accessed Edan’s connection and saw that she was supposed to kill one of the intruders and capture the other. Sadly, it sometimes took a while for the commands to be registered by the semi-robotic girl, who held the code name _War._ The blonde simply hoped that it wouldn’t be too late to save some lives.

“I hope I don’t end up regretting this…”

000

Their plans did not proceed as fast as they would have liked, but they did proceed.

With their advanced Gundam systems, the program that the pilots used was strengthened. It had taken a few tries to succeed using a test system, since they were a bit weary in loading it right into their Gundams. Wing Zero was the first to take to the firewall, though it came as no surprise. Its already advanced system automatically altering the program to work at maximum efficiency.

When it was decided that the five pilots were prepared for their battle, or as prepared as they could be, at least, plans were formed to start and assault against CSO.

They would wait for Dorian Adelphie to leave his safe haven in the civilian colonies. Their aim was to ultimately destroy the dictator, but they had no desire to involve any non-military personnel. After all, the gundams needed the support of citizens to be able to effectively counteract CSO, and they could not risk being seen in a negative light by anyone other than Adelphie’s organization.

So, they were forced to wait for the Prime Minister to make his way back to a military colony—there were a few different colonies, but one was most ideal. It was the smallest of the four with the least amount of weaponry at its disposal. Theoretically, it was the easiest way for the pilots to access their target.

_000_

“I thought you said this would be easy,” Duo said through gritted teeth over the communication link between the other gundams. He was busy trying to grapple with one of the steel grey, CSO mobile suits called a Seal (which seemed like a ridiculous name to the pilots. Why would someone name a powerful mobile suit ‘Seal?’) He managed to get Deathscythe Hell’s hand to the head of the suit, and crushed it.

“I said it would be the _easiest_ ,” Heero corrected and raised his buster rifle to shoot down a group of six Seals coming his way.

Though he stood by the fact that the military colony, which was more or less just a larger version of the military bases within certain colonies, on the Moon, or on different resource satellites, it still had at least a hundred suits for its use.

“As long as we are persistent, we can destroy all of the suits and get inside to Adelphie,” Chang stated and went on the full offense as he tried to near the colony. “We are already making progress.”

 

What they did not know, however, was that Prime Minster Dorian Adelphie was watching from a control room with an icy smile. He had been under the suspicion that the gundams were being rebuilt for a period of time, and in fact allowed himself to be placed into the position that they wanted. “Plague,” he announced over his headset, “board White Horse and prepare to activate Black Horse subject, Famine.”

The ‘soldier’ who received the command went to her mobile suit without a second’s hesitation and sat back in the cockpit. With a crack of her knuckles, she let everyone else around her make the necessary preparations for her launch while she went ahead and started to carry out her first orders.

_[-- >…]_

_[-- >Black Horse: Activated, test run in process]_

_[-- >Destroy targeted enemies]_

The braided pilot was overwhelmed suddenly by a headache. He actually had to grasp his head and squeeze his eyes shut. He cried out in pain, but only for a moment. His shoulders, then, relaxed and he sat straight up, hands on his controls. His eyes were heavy lidded, and it seemed that Duo wouldn’t concentrate on anything else other than attacking absolutely _everything_ around him. Sadly, it was not any of the CSO dolls or suits around him; Wing Zero was the closest object to Duo. Without any warning, the braided young man turned on his comrade, rocking forward, weapon drawn. He took a swing hoping to land a blow.

After a few moments, the other pilots stopped what they were doing and turned their attention onto 01 and 02. “Duo!” The blonde haired pilot shouted at the pilot of the new Deathscythe Hell, “Duo, stop! Please! You don’t want to be attacking us! We’re your friends!”

“He can’t hear you,” Yuy replied as he used his wings as a shield against the thermal weapon.  He used the jets on the back to shoot up and away from the other gundam, “something’s wrong. I don’t think he’s in control.”  Trowa and Quatre tried to help and interfere, however, Duo continued to fight all of them.

As they did, all of the attacking mobile dolls started retreating. Apparently, they didn’t want to be near the rogue Deathscythe, who was attacking anything in his path. Something caught Heero’s eye as the mass of retreating dolls disappeared back into the purely military colony. He wasn’t the only one to notice it.

“That can’t be,” Wufei muttered over their com link, “that looks like another Gundam.” He was right. There was a white mobile suit, looking sleek, shiny, and brand new, hovering idly by in the distance. “It’s got to be CSO; I’m going after it.” The pilot of Altron didn’t wait for any response. He took off, leaving the other three pilots to deal with Duo. Heero wanted to tell him not to go, but he had learned that it wouldn’t have mattered very much. He didn’t waste his breath.

_000_

“White Horse, are you connected?” Dorian Adelphie asked into his headset. It was the first time his projects had been in combat with the Gundam pilots, and he was eager to watch the display.

“I am, Lamb. I’m attempting to regain control of Famine as we speak. It won’t be easy since project Black Horse wasn’t completed,” the blonde female pilot responded to her father as she typed away at her laptop. “Also, the Gundam pilots have apparently developed software that I’m going to need time to get through.”

“Don’t give me that, Isabella,” the dark haired male growled, “you’re supposed to be able to break through any software, firewall, _anything_.”

“Well, of course I can,” Isabella replied, over the intercom, “it’s just going to require a bit of time to decode this algorithm—time that I don’t have while I’m trying to establish a solid connection with the neuro chip of project Black Horse.” Her cockpit wasn’t the same as the other Gundams in existence. She did not have any manual fighting controls. Everything, all of her attacks and defenses, were computerized and at her fingertips. She was truly the only one capable of piloting her Gundam, the White Horse.

“Fine then, I will send out Red Horse to keep the others off of you while you work on getting the connection.”

“Father, are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, it could interfere with the connection and—”

“Don’t question me,” Adelphie’s voice warned, “just obey. Edan will be along shortly. She was already standing by to ship out.” From the control room, Adelphie raised his hand, signaling to one of the soldiers working the controls to radio the hanger holding Red Horse and Black Horse, even though Black Horse was currently pilotless. The solider did as he was told, and soon a second CSO Gundam was on its way.

_000_

Wufei raised his right arm, letting one of his Dragon Claws release, his attack aimed for the white gundam. It moved away to miss the vital hit to the head of the suit, but its arm was caught and he started to pull. He was ready to try and rip the gundamium appendage clean off when his sensors on his right side started going off, signaling the arrival of a new combatant. He let his dragon loose and drew back, just in time to miss the swing of a long blade. The white suit backed away, putting distance between itself and Wufei. Even if he wanted to continue to try and attack, he couldn’t—a red gundam now faced him, and it was clear that it intended to attack.

Activating his thermal double trident, Chang swung at his new opponent. With one blade, because it had a set of duel blades, the metallic red Gundam met his weapon. They were locked, both trying to push the other one off. Finally, they both pushed back for just a moment before clashing once again. “Since when did CSO have Gundams?! This is just unbelievable!”

They had destroyed their own gundams in hope that it would help stop violence, but it did nothing to help, clearly. As the two battled on, none on one, it seemed as if they were equally matched. In truth, however, both were holding back considerably. The red gundam with two blades was only using one, and Wufei was still more or less testing out his opponent. Mentally, it was difficult for him. The gundam he was facing showed so much resemblance to Epyon, the Gundam built by his biggest rival—Treize.

The three remaining pilots, obviously not including Duo who was still rampaging, swinging his scythe at anything that got too close to him, were still fending him off. Finally, Heavy Arms got behind the dark Gundam and locked his arms under Deathscythe’s and over his shoulders. No matter how hard he struggled, Duo was unable to get out of such a grip. Suddenly though, the braided pilot stopped moving around and Deathscythe shut down.

_000_

“White Horse! What happened?!”

“I—I don’t know!” Bella shouted at her father over their communication line. “I had managed to established a connection with Famine, but the signal suddenly disappeared. For all I know, the subject could have just had a brain aneurism and died! The surgeries weren’t completed and it seems that any long distance communication could be impossible!” She could hear her father shouting and swearing, obviously aggravated by the situation.

“Fine then. We’ll have to bring him in by force and complete the procedures—if he’s still alive, of course. Red Horse, retrieve subject Famine from the Gundam Deathscythe Hell,” Adelphie ordered the pilot of CSO’s second Gundam, and one of his best soldiers.

“Sir,” one of the men dressed in CSO uniform called from his spot at one of the communication terminals, “we’ve lost communication with Red Horse. It’s been shut down.”

“Isabella Vespasian Valentinian, you better explain yourself right now.” Dorian Adelphie, Prime Minister of CSO, remained very calm. His daughter, however, could tell by his tone of voice that he was likely suppressing his fury. While she couldn’t see his face, she was also very sure that he had a very dark look in his green eyes. It was a trait both her father and half sister shared. He had terrified many a people with that look, as had Moira. Bella was sure that it was part of the reason he had chosen her older half sister to take over for him when he retired.

“I didn’t do anything wrong!” The blonde shouted at her father, “maybe the sudden attempt to connect aggravated the chip, and since Edan’s on a similar frequency, it temporarily shut her down as well. I’m going to have to try to fight off that one Gundam if he tries to attack her. If you could send some suits or dolls to retrieve her...” Her father reluctantly agreed.

Isabella smiled to herself, glad that her father couldn’t see. In reality, it had only taken her moments to establish the connection to pilot 02, Duo Maxwell. Her father had used the very, very basic functions of the chip implanted into Black Horse subject Famine to attack, but she was able to _dis_ able him just as easily. She shut him down and then tapped into Edan’s system to shut her down so that she would not obey Dorian’s orders either.

_000_

In the middle of their close range battle, Wufei’s opponent stopped. Just stopped. “Come on, fight back!” The Chinese pilot snapped in frustration. He raised his weapon and brought it down to attack. He stopped just before he made contact with the other Gundam. It was cheap to take a shot like that, and he wouldn’t drop himself to such a lowly level. “Fine. We’ll fight again, and when we do, I won’t hesitate to land the blow.” With that, he retreated, leaving the red Gundam in the white one’s hands.

Heero had just directed Trowa and Quatre to guide Deathscythe back to their carrier so that they could see what was going on with the braided pilot and if he was even alive, when a familiar image appeared on one of his monitor screens. A white horse’s head was revolving around in the center, much like a screen saver. He had seen this in Duo’s temporary escape mobile suit when they found him passed out after returning safely with the others. Heero switched to his manual computer controls and clicked on the message. It was an encrypted file, but his Gundam’s advanced system was able to decode and translate it so that he could easily read it.

_[To the pilot of Wing Zero:]_

_[I trust that you have realized that CSO has something of a super computer that has the ability to shut down basically all systems, including those that each one of your Gundams run off of. While you may have been able to reconfigure your current systems to temporarily evade CSO’s viruses, upon your next advance you will be shut down. Also, you should be aware that once CSO has made it into your systems, they will also be able to terminate you at any given time with your own self destruct capabilities. Therefore, I would like to direct you into a more productive plan of action.]_

_[On the evening of June 27 th, outside of Florence ,Italy (to be more specific, Dorian Adelphie’s newly renovated manor,) the CSO’s main weapon will be held. Look in the southern tower. It would most likely be in your best interest to steal it then, and use it to your own advantage. ]_

_[Until then, don’t plan on attacking any bases with the intent of surviving, because you probably won’t. Oh, and also, I would try to keep pilot 02, Duo Maxwell, out of direct range of the CSO communication satellites. You wouldn’t want him going haywire on you again, now would you? ]_

When Heero had finished reading the message, he was sure to save it and close out. He would wait until he had investigated it a bit more before telling his fellow pilots about it. “We need to get Duo back and see what’s wrong. We’re lucky they aren’t continuing to attack how that they have the chance. We’re going to have to re-evaluate our plan of attack,” stated the Japanese pilot to the others over their com links. There were voices of agreement from the others, though Wufei was particularly silent, Heero noticed. They all turned their backs on the CSO base, not in defeat, but thinking of their attack as, more or less, just a test run.

_000_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I am absolutely set on getting through this story! I will try to post new chapters regularly! The story is not technically finished up yet, so let me know what you think! I still have a few possible directions for the ending!
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> A.F


	3. Verse III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heero ventures off on his own for the sake of information; the pilots use said information to try to steal CSO's supercomputer.

**_Verse III_ **

 

They had returned to Quatre’s home on Earth. His desert mansion was rather isolated, and natural metallic compounds found in the area deterred the CSO’s satellites from spying on them. Duo also benefited from this—until they had arrived back on Earth, he would not wake up. His fellow pilots had started to wonder if he was comatose until he finally woke in one of Quatre’s comfortable beds.

Though they did their best to help him recover, it was a slow process. Unlike Wufei, who had managed to keep his strength in tact despite being a prisoner for months, Duo’s body had weakened over time. The pilots took turns helping 02 through a makeshift physical therapy program.

Heero was forced to drop out of their rotation after just a few weeks. While he was doing some system maintenance on Wing Zero, which seemed to take updates almost every day since it automatically improved programs when it found a defect, a message had come across one of his large plasma monitors.

He didn’t hesitate to open it, not since Wing Zero had allowed it through in the first place. When the transmission came across, Heero knew immediately that it was their secret ally.

A white horse’s head revolved in the background while text appeared on the screen:

_[To the Pilot of Wing Zero:]_

_[Adelphie’s weapon is to be housed in his newly renovated manor within the next few weeks. Should you wish it, I can provide ample means for you and your partners to retrieve his super weapon, and take it for your own. Your mobile suits may have lasted through one battle with CSO, but it is not likely that they will last a second or third time. You can utilize Adelphie’s weapon for yourselves.]_

_[Three Thursdays from now at 13:15, stop by the café (whose daily special will be listed outside as a hazelnut espresso) along the street of Via dei Foraggi, right in the heart of Rome. You will receive everything you need enter into Adelphie’s manor.]_

_[If you choose not to accept my aid, then I suppose I will have to discontinue my support and leave you on your own. To help you in your decision, please think—could you have successfully rescued Duo Maxwell without me?]_

_[Good luck in your endeavors.]_

The message ended, just as he had time to finish reading. Heero, of course, already had his instructions imbedded in his memory. It was a good thing he did, since he could not manage to make the message appear again.

 

“What makes you think we can trust this contact of yours,” Wufei asked after Heero and Quatre entered the sitting room. It was only one of the many in the Winner residence, but it was the one that they seemed to prefer for group meetings. There were no windows and it was close to the hidden elevator that could take them to their gundams.

“I don’t trust them, at least, not entirely. But Quatre and I are in agreement—we don’t have much choice,” Heero said and crossed his arms. “I will be leaving for Rome in just a few days.”

Trowa frowned, his mouth in a tight, thin line. “I suppose we don’t get a say in this matter?”

“Duo’s fainting spells are getting much more frequent,” Quatre spoke up, wringing his wrists slightly, “Heero’s contact was able to give us at least a starting point in helping him before. If Heero can meet with this person, maybe they can tell us how to fix Duo again…”

“We should not rely on this person anymore than we apparently already have,” Wufei snapped, “We should find out when the device will be at the Adelphie residence on our own, and then storm the manor. We have our mobile suits and we can get reinforcements. We can do it our own way, as we always have.”

The blonde sighed and shook his head. “There’s just too much at stake here. Our forces are dwindling and though we cannot be sure if the contact was bluffing, CSO really may be able to disable our suits upon attack. Adelphie’s residence is bound to be highly protected, so we need to be as discreet as possible. Not only that, but think about it, we don’t _really_ know what his weapon/computer/program actually looks like. We may not be able to identify it on our own.”

 

That was it, the decision was made. Just as Heero had said, he was on his way to Italy just a few days later. While the meet up was still about two weeks away, the gundam pilot was forced to travel as inconspicuously as possible. He was forced to cross the desert via truck until he could reach the sea line. From there, he took a fishing boat to southern Italy. Over the course of that five and a half day journey, Heero would send blank messages back to Quatre to check in.

Once he reached the mainland, however, Heero was forced to cut back on his already sparse communication. Security into the nation was tighter than he had expected, especially so far south. CSO soldiers were stopping every ship entering the harbor, as if they were expecting to find someone.

He had no choice but to seal up as much of his important gear (cash, cell phone, falsified IDs and documentation,) and jump ship when they neared the shoreline. He swam to a nearby dock and waited out the CSO search until the following morning, when he was dry. Somewhat reluctantly, Heero smashed up his cell phone, just in case. If they were tracking him, he couldn’t be too careful.

After he was safely out of Soverato, Heero was able to hop a ride with someone wearing the discreet badge of the rebels—a white feather patch on the left shoulder—up to Potenza, where he decided to wait out a day before traveling further. His original plan was to stick to the coast line, but the pilot felt it necessary to deviate from his initial course.

Heero worked on studying the areas with a military presence before he decided to steal a beat up silver car from outside of bar. The driver wasn’t likely to notice it missing for a few hours, which would put him far enough away that he could ditch it and grab another before morning. He did exactly that without any problems. With three days until his rendezvous with his contact, he bussed into Rome.

Though it might have been risky with the extra military personnel patrolling the street, Heero wanted an opportunity to scout out his meet up point.  The only annoyance with his idea was that he wouldn’t know which café had a special of hazelnut espresso on Thursday unless he asked. He certainly did not want to draw attention to himself by doing any inquiring.

There were three cafés on the street that had chalkboards outside reading a daily special. He scoped out the first two in one day, going to one in the morning and buying an obligatory coffee, and the other at night to buy a tea. Both little shops made him very uneasy. Heero did not like the amount of people crammed into the small spaces with only one visible exit in each, besides the door behind the serving counters. He sat for a good forty five minutes in each, finding that at all times, people were coming in and out of the door. He would have to keep on intense alert if he were in one of these shops.

He remained outside of them, on the street, for periods of time, trying to see if there were any ‘off’ hours in the cafés. There was no such luck. They were quite busy all day long.

The following day, the day before his meet up, Heero went to the only other candidate. He preferred it to the others instantly.

Compared to the other two, it was almost considered dumpy. Their selection wasn’t as vast as the other two, and their machines appeared to be dated. It had a quiet, homely atmosphere. Most notable, this one did not have a WiFi connection, which probably led to the lack of foot traffic. There was also a door that apparently led up to a roof top patio that was currently closed.

At least if he needed a quick getaway, he could break through the door and escape via rooftop.

Heero returned to his cheap motel room after his scouting. As tempting as it might have been to stay out and explore the city while he had the time, he did not want to risk anyone recognizing him, however slim the chance. He remained in for the rest of the night, reading the papers and munching on a sandwich he picked up on his way in.

The next morning, it was raining. On the downside, sometimes water and mud made it easier to track him in the event of a chase, but on the bright side, the number of people with umbrellas and hoods would make it easier to disappear in the crowd. Heero pulled on his clothes, clothes that were gratefully donated to him by the rebel who gave him a lift, and left the room for good. He would not return, one way or another.

At 12:55, Heero was walking down the street, looking for the signs that read the daily specials. Unfortunately, because of the rain, most were propped up in the window. He had to search out the signs before he found the correct shop.

It was the third café he had visited.

Upon entering, the pilot glanced over everyone in the room. There wasn’t anyone who particularly looked interesting. No one displayed the signs of a solider, which was what he had honestly been expecting. In fact, except for the teenager working the counter, no one even looked up at him. Heero crossed the floor and ordered the daily special.

When he sat down, opening the newspaper in front of him to make his presence casual, it was 13:05.

After sitting quietly for eleven minutes, Heero was ready to leave. He could not explain it, but he simply had a bad feeling. Something was going to happen, and he surely wasn’t going to like it.

The power cut in the café as thunder rolled overhead. The remaining customers murmured amongst themselves before they started to stand and leave the building. The barista called out to everyone, speaking in Italian of course, stating that the power outage sometimes happened and it would be back up and running shortly. The customers did not seem interested in staying.

Heero stood as well to leave, believing his contact would not show up with an empty café, when he noticed that one of the patrons was going out of her way to get to his table. He tensed as she reached into her half unzipped hoodie. He believed she would pull out a weapon, but instead, she pulled out a manila folder.

It was a young woman in brown with jeans that were soaked up the back of her legs, to her knees, from dragging a bit in the puddles. She was on the shorter side and petite, and she avoided eye contact with Heero. She set down the folder and hunched over as she pulled out a pen.

_Don’t go out the front door._

She capped the pen and stood. Heero managed to catch her gaze, but had to keep himself from flinching. Her green eyes looked… lifeless.

The young woman put her hands in her hoodie pockets and rejoined the crowd.

Heero scooped up the folder and went straight to the patio door. Despite it reading ‘Closed,’ the door was unlocked. He ran up the damp stairs and pushed open a damaged, second door, entering onto the rooftop patio. He could here yelling from down below, yelling that sounded like orders. He didn’t need to look over the railing to know that soldiers were waiting to storm the building.

Tucking the folder into his own jacket, the pilot got a running start before jumping over onto the next roof. No one seemed to have noticed him, thankfully, and he continued to cross that roof as well. After hopping two more buildings (and nearly falling off of one due to the slick flat top,) Heero found an emergency exit to climb down.

“Too close,” he muttered to himself as he left the alleyway and fell into the crowd. He would have get out of the city as fast as possible and head north to Florence, where he would meet with the others. If there was a plan to get into Adelphie’s manor, they had to actually be close to it to pull it off.

_000_

Since Heero had gone to the information drop off site, they all agreed that it would be less risky to send someone else in to scout out the manor. Duo was still out of the running to do _any_ work, since he had become rather… narcoleptic, falling asleep at any given time, despite whatever task he had been doing. Wufei, also, could not be given any jobs that might have him spotted by CSO—the fact that he had spent a few months as a prisoner with frequent soldier interactions soldiers meant that he had a higher chance of being recognized than almost anyone else. It left Quatre or Trowa for the job.

Barton offered himself up

As per their contact’s plans, he was now peering out at the manor, past the rim of his baseball hat.

The caterers had to come by a day early to set up tons and tons of tables in the titanic ballroom, as well as lawn tents that reminded him of the circus. With the mocked up security badge that was supplied to them in the manila folder, all the pilots had to do as add a photo and he was able to walk right into the manor. Because of all of the new faces that were brought in to help the catering company, no one, not even his supposed employers, questioned him.

Trowa was up on a ladder, helping to build the frame of the tent, which was basically second nature to him, and scouting out the area. There was a body of water next to the manor—either a very large pond or a very small lake—and he could see a very familiar blinking occasionally come through the water. CSO’s metallic grey Pisces were probably beneath the lake around Seals around the building, in forest. He didn’t need to see it to know that CSO’s dolls were watching the house and waiting to put an end to anything that moved without clearance.

Soldiers were at every door and circled the perimeter.

The house, Barton knew, was basically state of the art. It had the most intricate security design—one that could compete with most military bases he had seen. It took after the former Earth-Sphere president’s residence in that it could be locked down and lowered—then no one could get in or out, except through some secret route that only Adelphie knew about.

Duo had made a comment saying that he wouldn’t want to get stuck down there during a zombie outbreak. Then he proceeded to contemplate who would win—them in their gundams or the zombies? Duo fell asleep before he could give his opinion as to who would come out as the victor.

They all agreed that the zombies would win while he was asleep.

Anyhow.

Trowa reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out what looked like an iPod. It was a thermal detector. Yes. There was an app for that. He inconspicuously held it up as though he were picking a song and took some snapshots of the manor—specifically, the tower. From what he could see, there was no one in it. It was a security room with enough computers and like technology to run a country’s stock market. It made sense that the software they were after would be there, but why only at midnight? He still believed it was a trap.

Trowa stared to climb down the ladder, putting the fake iPod away. Whenever he reached the bottom, however, he was slightly, ever so slightly, caught off guard. He touched the ground and turned to face the other way, his eyes locking with a set of dead looking green and blue eyes. He recognized them—he could not forget them.

It was the female who had apparently been sent to stop him and Quatre from rescuing Wufei. Barton tensed up, wondering if he should be preparing to fight the robotic-like woman. After a moment¸ she turned and walked away at a brisk pace.

She had to have remembered him. He needed to escape, and fast

“Hey, you,” a voice called out to the HeavyArms pilot from his other side, “stay there.”

A guy, probably just a few years older than Trowa, walked towards him, all soldiers and hired help clearing a path for him. He had dark brown, maybe black hair, spiked in different directions, slightly tanned skin with tattoos covering his arms (one marking being the Japanese character for death, despite the fact that he was Caucasian,) and numerous piercings in his ears. Trowa did not know who this approaching guy was, but it was clear that causing trouble with him was not a wise decision.

“Yes…sir?” Baron commented, trying to remain in the character of an ignorant caterer worker.

“What’s that in your pocket?” The guy nodded towards the hand that was in Trowa’s pocket and stopped only a few feet away.

“My iPod.”

“Looked more like an iPhone.” He had a good eye. It was thicker than just the iTouch and had the camera of a phone. “All phones were to be left at the entrance gate, same as any cameras.”

“I know. I left my phone at the gate like everyone else,” Barton stated, trying to find a way to get away from this guy whom apparently everyone else found intimidating.

“Let me see your ID,” he demanded and put his hand out. Reluctantly, Trowa reached into his back pocket, pulling out the fake card. The pilot handed it over. “Dave King… I don’t remember seeing your name on the background check registrar.” He pulled out his phone and started to dial a number. Trowa remained calm, though it wasn’t easy. He was about ready to snatch the phone from the tattooed hand and break it when—

“Vi—ince,”  a young lady’s voice called out in a sing-song sort of way, “there you are! When did you get back?” It was a blonde who looked like she was probably Duo or Quatre’s age. She practically skipped to the guy who was in the process of calling someone to check Barton’s background. She wrapped her arms around one of his, hanging on him.

“Isabella,” the man named Vince growled, “you’re being annoying.”

“Well, I’ll be sure to tell my daddy you said so,” she replied brightly, “Moira was looking for you earlier. You should probably find her. You know how angry she gets at you when you avoid her.” The blonde looked at Vince and smiled, “she’s sometimes worse than my father…” He groaned and hung up his phone. He tossed Trowa’s fake ID back at him, stomping away and muttering to himself. The blonde remained, smiling at Trowa.

Her smile was almost as unnerving as the other young woman’s emotionless eyes.

“Thank you,” Trowa started after a moment, “he wanted to take my iPod. I don’t like setting up without music.”

“Of course, Mr. King,” Bella replied and hooked her thumbs into her belt loops, “you need to be more careful. There’s always someone watching here. You got lucky, this time.” She twirled around and walked away in the same direction as Vince. Barton followed her with his eyes, watching how she met up with the girl who he thought would report him.

He guessed she did report him—she reported him to this Isabella girl, who proceeded to eliminate the cause of Trowa’s possible problem.

Was this their contact?

He didn’t want to stick around to find out, fearing the consequences he may face if he were to be wrong. Trowa left when the first shift of hired help left for the day.

Returning to the flat that Quatre had rented out in a fake name (for nothing about their lives seemed to be real,) Yuy, Chang, and of course, Winner were all waiting on him to hear his report. “How did it go?” Sandrock’s pilot asked eagerly, pouring a cup of tea for his _very_ close friend. “Was there any trouble?

Trowa dropped into the chair across from the blonde male and passed off the iPod-like device, accepting the tea. “I think I was nearly caught. Some guy named Vince. He wasn’t dressed like a soldier but he must work for Adelphie. Everyone stayed away from him. A blonde girl named Isabella distracted him long enough to get him to leave. Does Adelphie have another daughter? She spoke about Moira and her father, so—”

Wufei, who had been leaning against the wall, looking out through the window, stood straight and answered. “Yes, he does. Isabella Vespasian Valentinian. I saw her while I was still held captive. She showed up once—looking friendly with the girl who was outside of my cell, waiting for you when you arrived. I believe she was called Edan.”

“That’s what? Her first name or last?” Heero asked and took the iPod from Quatre. Chang shrugged.

“Not a clue. They announced only the one name during the single match we had. They announced my full name,” the Chinese male added to show the oddity of the situation.

“I cannot be sure but I think this Edan woman saw me, recognized me right away from the attack, and went to tell Isabella. I’m starting to wonder if they are our contacts,” Trowa explained his idea. There was silence as they all waited on Wufei’s response, since he was sure to have one.

He did not disappoint.

“What? Those women? Absolutely not. The one is a mindless zombie and the other is the spoiled brat of our enemy. They have no reason to want to help us—unless of course it’s a trap,” he snapped and crossed his arms, refusing to believe that it was possible. Heero furrowed his brows and turned to Wufei.

“A mindless zombie?

“Yes, a mindless zombie.”

Quatre shook his head, “Heero, what I think he means is that she’s… not normal. When we encountered her, she showed no emotion while she was attacking. She did not seem to register any pain, and did things that should be beyond human limitations—”

“Sounds like someone else we know,” Trowa mumbled. Heero just stared at him. “My point exactly.”

“—and at one point, she just stopped and stood at attention, as if waiting for orders from some… disembodied voice.”

“Her eyes,” Yuy started, ignoring the rest of them, “were they green eyes and looked just—”

“Dead?” All three of the other pilots responded at once.

“I saw her. She was the one who delivered all of the plans to me while I was in Rome. I encountered Isabella while rescuing Duo. She gave me access to his medical room without question and bypassed the security on the door without any problem. She must be White Horse.” Once again, silence filled the room as everyone thought over the words of Wing Zero’s pilot.

“It must be a trap,” Quatre sighed and placed his china tea cup onto the wooden table in front of the couch, on which he currently sat. “Why else would she deliberately betray her father?”

“She doesn’t use his last name. I’ll see what I can find on who I would assume was her mother,” the tallest of the young man stood once more and started to head back towards his room. He halted just before disappearing out of sight, “Quatre—not everyone has compassion for their family. Especially when their family does terrible things.”

_000_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone is enjoying the story! If you are, please let me know! I always love some feedback!
> 
> Thanks everyone!


	4. Verse IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gundam boys are forced to enact the plan set up by their mysterious ally. Should they put their trust in a thus far faceless rebel?

**_Verse IV_**

 

Their plan would continue. There wasn’t enough information to suggest it was a trap and since they really needed the software to protect their Gundams, it was a change that they had to take. So, they all got dressed up for the party. Quatre wore a valet’s uniform, Trowa in a waiter’s suit he had stolen the previous day, and Wufei and Heero wore CSO uniforms—the lowest possible ranking outfits that they could wear without drawing any attention to themselves. Chang already had to stay as inconspicuous as he could.

The evening fell and they broke through the lines of mobile dolls by passage of the White Horse—a certain set of Seal dolls standing guard were temporarily deactivated while the four drove in on a jeep. They walked only a few hundred yards before they reached the party. They were near the parking lot that was set up for those who did not use drivers, or who wanted their drivers to stay close by. “Damn,” Heero muttered as Quatre broke off to take his post: procuring a suitable getaway car.

“What?” Wufei snapped.

“Relena and Dorothy are here. Look, their pink and gold limos just drove away.”

“She’ll recognize you, obviously,” Trowa responded, “and us. I’ll have to stay away from both of them while I’m inside. There’s a group of waiters heading to the back. I’m going.” He quickly veered off and joined the others in white serving jackets.

“Women make things so complicated,” Chang muttered as they continued to the other side of the great manor.

_000_

“Relena,” started Dorothy, who tapped her finger against her cheek thoughtfully, “do you really think he’ll be showing up here? With all of these soldiers?”

“It’s Heero.”

“Good point, he’ll definitely be here.” Relena Peacecraft stood by idly in her floor length gown. The cunning blonde, who very often seemed to follow her around, was right next to her. She didn’t want to be at the pointless party, but she couldn’t refuse the Prime Minister Adelphie if she wanted to maintain control of the Sanc Kingdom—not to mention the fact that she wanted to organize the release of her only brother. Zechs and Noin were arrested after aiding rebels and were now being held at one of CSO’s lunar bases. “Oh, look, isn’t that Trowa Barton?” Dorothy asked, nudging the other girl in a particular waiter’s direction. Relena pulled her arm away, scowling at Dorothy.

“Yes, I see,” she snapped, “you aren’t taking this seriously. There could be real trouble or danger, and we’re right in the middle. We’ve got to stay weary of—”

“Relena! Dorothy! You made it!”

“Oh. Hello, Isabella,” replied the Sanc Kindom’s princess dully, “I haven’t see you for a while. How have you been?” Interrupting her had been a girl with platinum blonde hair in an icy blue, rhinestone dress: a girl Relena had met with while she was still running a young ladies’ academy in her kingdom. She didn’t particularly like Isabella Vespasian Valentinian.

“It _has_ been a while—probably since you kicked me out of school for changing my grades,” Isabella responded and laughed.

“It was cheating,” stated the princess.

“Oh, yes, yes,” Isabella said and waved her hand, “but I wasn’t learning much anyhow. Your school wasn’t fast paced enough for me. I think I forgot more than I actually learned.”

“You’re offending Miss Relena,” Dorothy stepped in, glaring at the other blonde. Isabella continued to smile.

“She should get used to it. She’ll be hearing much more from me in the time to come,” she muttered and moved past Dorothy. Though she stood next to Relena, Isabella was staring off at some of the waiters. “How does it feel to be completely useless while a dictator takes over mankind?” She did not wait for an answer. Isabella walked away from the former Queen.

_000_

“There’s Relena and Dorothy,” Heero grunted from his third floor balcony position in the atrium of the large manor. The entryway looked more like the entrance to the Paris Opera House than anything. Wufei nodded from his spot, partially hidden behind a red velvet curtain.

“And Isabella, wait, no, she’s gone.”

“That must be Adelphie’s other daughter, his heir, Moira. The guy that Trowa mentioned is with her—he looks like the description he gave, at least,” said Wing Zero’s pilot.

“I don’t recognize him. If I ever saw him, it was only in passing.” Wufei also spotted the apparent couple—a woman with dark hair in a curled up-do and a black fitted gown, and on _her_ arm (it wasn’t hard to tell that she was in full command of whatever their relationship might have been) was a guy who looked like a mafia bodyguard. He had a rose tattoo on his left hand, and Trowa had mentioned that he had clearly seen that same marking earlier in the day.

Suddenly, every soldier in the vicinity snapped to attention, and it only took a split second for the pilots to follow suit. Prime Minster Dorian Adelphie entered through the main doors. He was escorted in by a line of soldiers, the one leading standing out more than the others. It was Edan, Wufei noted, and she was actually in a uniform. It was a deep ruby color which contrasted with the regular, grey CSO uniforms greatly.

“Everyone,” Adelphie called out, commanding the attention of everyone who had previously tried to ignore his entrance, “I bid you welcome! I know that many of you, my guests, have matters that you would like to discuss with either my daughter—” Moira and her escort walked to her father’s side, “—or myself, but tonight is a night meant for socializing and relaxation. So, without further ado, let the celebrations begin!” Music was soon cued up form the ballroom, which had two sets of double doors and both were fully open. The Adelphie’s starting making their way from one county’s _leader_ to another.

These leaders, mostly, were not happy with Adelphie. He had turned them more into governors who reported to him. They were not thrilled, nor eager, to speak with him when he came their way.

Soldiers dispersed to pick up extra posts and add security to the Prime Minster. The young woman in the red uniform was one of the few to stick with him as he made his rounds. “We just have to make it for the next three hours,” Yuy commented and stood at ease with the other soldiers. It would be a nerve wracking three hours, but it wasn’t as though this was their first infiltration mission.

_000_

“It’s 23:30,” Wufei said, sliding his phone from his pocket to answer a text from Trowa. “No suspicion has, as of yet, to arise. No extra activity to be seen that indicated anyone is expecting us.”

“Post change has already started. As soon as two soldiers come to take the post next to us, we’ll go to the tower post. If we leave now, the soldiers who have seen us here all night will be suspicious,” replied Heero. They waited only another five minutes, until the change occurred, before they slipped off to the other side of the manor.

Trowa was gliding around through the ballroom, offering up champagne and catching bits of conversations when he was waved down by a soldier near Adelphie. He was lucky he had already sent his message to Chang because he knew that once he approached the Prime Minister, eyes would be on him for some time. Immediately, he left his route to enter Adelphie’s circle, which he didn’t want to do in the least.

Vince deBordaris—the guy who had tried to stop him earlier—was standing with the Prime Minster and both of his daughters. Trowa had no desire to get mixed up with him. He was an ex special opts member, dishonorably discharged after killing numerous innocent people in what was to be a retrieval mission. It was suspected that it was a cover up and that he was actually working as a professional assassin for OZ. Now deBordaris was in the CSO inner circle. Barton didn’t need to delve any further to know that he did a lot of the Adelphie’s dirty work. “Champagne, Sir?”

“Ah, yes, thank you,” the Prime Minster replied and smiled. He looked like a normal middle aged man who was enjoying himself. Not at all like an evil dictator. “Moira? Vince?”

“I’ll take some!” The blonde daughter said brightly and outstretched her hand to take a glass. Another hand shot out to snatch Isabella’s wrist back. Trowa glanced over to see that Edan had stopped her. “Oh, fine. It’s ridiculous that a grown woman can’t have any champagne when celebrating.”

“You’re nineteen,” Moira responded coolly and took a glass of the golden, bubbly liquid from Trowa, “you’re _not_ a grown woman.”

“I’ll be twenty in like a month!”

“Isabella,” Adelphie sighed, apparently a little annoyed with his younger daughter, “you know that your age has nothing to do with why I don’t let you drink.”

“Yes, I know,” she mumbled, almost in a pouting sort of way. “I won’t try it again.”

“Sure,” the older sibling replied, “because you’ve never promised that before.”

“Moira, leave your sister alone. Isabella, did you not mention to me that your software is set for a midnight update, tonight?” Dorian Adelphie stated, sipping his champagne. Trowa stood by silently, waiting as he should have to be properly dismissed. DeBordaris reached over and took a glass, looking over pilot 03 with a raised brow.

“You, you’re David King, aren’t you? The caterer employee I caught with a phone earlier.”

Barton had only a few moments to ready himself for the coming questioning he was sure to receive, “yes, sir, I am King, but I promise you, It was just an iPod. I left my phone with everyone else. You can check the logs, I’m sure you’ll see that I checked it in and checked it back out.”

“Vince,” the eldest daughter of the Adelphie line groaned, “we’re well protected. Relax, or I’m going off with that young Lieutenant who keeps staring at my ass.” And, indeed, she was right. Trowa could spy a decorated, ranking soldier some distance away from them and behind Moira, continuously looking up and down her lovely, shaped figure. For her to have noticed, well, the pilot knew that she had to be extremely observant.

“Isabella,” the Prime Minister interrupted the squabbling couple, “it’s after 11:30. Go to the tower. Do not return until you have finished with all of the updates.” The blonde frowned, her lips pursed and her brows furrowed.

“But—father—” she said, almost whining.

“You’re becoming annoying,” he responded, “the party will still be going on when you return.”

“We’ll see about that,” muttered Isabella, who turned to stomp away. Adelphie placed his now-empty champagne glass on Trowa’s tray. Taking a new glass, he put it to his temple. He closed his eyes, giving him the appearance that perhaps a headache was coming on.

“Edan, go with her. Keep her safe,” he sighed and nodded to dismiss both the soldier in red and the waiter in white. As much as he would have liked to text Wufei or Heero about the two approaching women, Trowa could not risk the suspicion. He took his time getting a new tray of drinks, making an effort to stay as close to the kitchen doors as he could. He would have to meet Quatre out back when they were ready to make their escape, so it was best to stay relatively close by.

 

“I’m going to go up in case it’s a trap. You’ve already been captive of CSO, you don’t need to be going back,” Heero said as they approached the heavily secured door that led to the Southern Tower. The previous set of guards left and the 01 and 05 pilots took over. They cut off the two soldiers who were meant to take the shift, knocked them out, and left them tied up in a women’s restroom that would surely go unused.

After all soldiers had reached their new posts and the chances of someone noticing that only one guard was standing outside of the door had gone down, Yuy opened the door. Luckily, their contact had thought to include the three access codes necessary to unlock the metal door. It was disguised to be a wooded door to fit the stylish Victorian décor. When the light turned green above the electronic keypad, the door unlatched from within and Heero entered.

While Altron’s pilot stood like a true soldier outside, the other scaled what had to have been a hundred stairs, in a circle, up to the room that was the Southern Tower. The room itself was almost two stories high at its tallest point—the point at which everything came together to make the cone-like tower roof. It was crammed with the latest technology and customized machines. There was a cupboard filled with color coded portable hard drives, and dozens upon dozens flash drives with different colored strings. They were dangling down on a few hooks above a particular table that was set up to be someone’s workstation.

Well what was he expecting, really? For the software he needed to be sitting on a pedestal with a mysterious light glowing form the heavens and a sign pointing to it that said ‘ _For the Gundam Pilots!’_? No. Apparently he would actually have to search for it.

_000_

“I can’t believe everything has gone so smoothly,” Isabella sighed and then smiled. Her companion was silent, as always. “Just a little bit longer and everything will be _really_ exciting.” The two young women continued down the hallways and as they passed, all soldiers stood at attention—some even saluting. However, as they reached the corridor that took them to the tower, they both stopped.

Chang Wufei was getting trouble from a CSO solider who had realized that he was actually an imposter. “Great,” Wufei muttered as the soldier motioned to another patrolling soldier nearby. The two started to reach for their weapons when a pair of women came into view—one being the silent warrior that had already disgraced him once.

“Edan, go,” Isabella said quietly. The brunette nodded and stalked forward, coming up on the two CSO soliders. They turned to her and saluted.

“Ma’am,” the first addressed, “I believe this is a Gundam pilot that we had previously held captive at the Main Base in the L3 region. Would you like us to inform the Prime Minster and escort him to the temporary holding cell?” They wanted to have their moment. Edan did not respond with words, but instead, after looking between the two, she grabbed the first soldier, pulled him down as she kneed him in the stomach. While he wrapped his arms around himself, dropping his gun, she brought her arm down on him and knocked him unconscious. The second was slightly in shock and did not know what to do when the young woman turned on him. He was down within moments, and Wufei was left in confusion—but not before he grabbed one of the discarded weapons, aiming at her. She just stared at him. Bella came up behind her friend and looked around thoughtfully.

“Edan, you should probably drag the bodies and sit them behind one of the larger window curtains,” the blonde suggested, “now, Mr. Chang, if you will, please lower the gun. We are not your enemies. I need to go up and meet with Mr. Yuy, I believe. I’m sure he’s going through all of my stuff, eagerly searching out your new software.”

“You’re our contact?” He responded, his eyes narrowing. He completely ignored the silent woman as she hid the unconscious bodies of the soldiers.

“Unexpected, hm? We’ll have more time to talk later, trust me,” said Isabella. She entered the code into the keypad, opened the door, and turned back to Edan, all while Wufei continued to point his gun at her. “Wait here. When I return with Yuy, cover our exit.” The brunette nodded and took the empty spot near the door.

The princess-like girl, with her long blonde hair pulled up in ringlets and her icy blue dress, pulled off her heels and started up the stairs. There was no elevator—this was her father’s way of ensuring that she stayed in shape, or so she supposed. She didn’t want to ruin her dress, so Bella took her time going up.

Wufei stood as far away from the red-coated woman as he could without looking suspicious. She did not move an inch. A few soldiers, some even of relatively high rank, passed by and saluted to her. She nodded appropriately, and they left. A few may have been unsure about the Gundam pilot, but because of the woman to his right, no one was willing to question him.

 

Heero pulled a gun from its holder at his side and quickly aimed. Someone had just entered the second tower door, catching him off guard since Chang was supposed to be guarding the lower door. Had something happened? Had he been caught and figured out to be an imposter? “…You’re Isabella.” The pretty blonde walked in, disregarding the weapon that was pointed at her, just as she had done when pilot 05 had aimed at her.

“If you remember me, then why are you still aiming at me? This is the second time you’ve drawn your gun on me, you know, and I don’t think that’s fair, since I’ve helped you so much,” she said, her voice showing her annoyance after he did not lower the cold, metal weapon. Crossing the room, she went right to the laptop that seemed to be the focal point of the room, unplugged it, and put it in a canvas bag that was under the desk. Bella pulled out the chair, sat down on it, and tossed her heels beneath the desk. There was a pair of grey tennis shoes waiting for her.

“Trowa believes you are our contact,” Yuy said, indirectly asking if she was, in fact, their contact after all. He was still pointing his gun at the back of her head.

“What do you think?” She pressed a button on a nearby monitor, letting the pilot see the same revolving white horse that he had seen on a few other occasions. He lowered his weapon. “I’m not surprise Barton guessed it was me. Edan saw him taking the pictures of my tower. She wanted to try to step in and stop Vince from hassling him, but obviously couldn’t. So she went ahead and got me instead. Anyhow, we’ve got to get going. The fireworks will be starting soon, and everyone will be heading out to the Veranda to watch. That will be the best time to escape.”

“You’re coming with us?” Heero asked, brows furrowed, “no, you can’t. It will draw too much attention. Just give me the software.”

“Can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Well,” Isabella sighed, standing to make sure her shoes were comfortable with her stockings, “I haven’t developed it yet. You think I would just give something like that away? Really? Uh-uh, you have to rescue me from this place first. Then I will personally develop and install state of the art software for each one of your suits. CSO won’t be able to do anything without me, so their old programs will be obsolete against you. You’ll be free to fight fair.”

“No,” the pilot grunted.

“You have no choice.”

“…Fine.”

“I knew you’d see it my way.” The blonde grabbed her colorful flash drive set, two hard drives, some cords that had previously been under heavy lockage, and a set of discs. She placed her messenger bag on her shoulder and looked around once more. “Right—shall I lead the way?” The two of them went to the door and she looked around for one last time before shutting out the light. Heero shut the door behind both of them. When they finally reached the bottom, Wufei was not at all happy to hear the major change in plans. With three sets of eyes glaring at him, he crossed his arms and silently thought horrible things about all of them. They had only walked a few yards away when Isabella stopped and turned around to the other woman.

“Edan, you’ve got to stay here and make sure we get away safely,” the blonde explained as if talking to a small child. The other woman frowned and opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but then shut it and nodded, her face wiping of all temporary emotion. “Do you understand? You are to protect me, like my father said, so you’ll have to go to the Red Horse because they’re going to know that I’ve sabotaged the system in about ten minutes. Go. Now.” The brunette slinked away without further instruction.

“What did you do to the systems?” Chang asked as they started walking again, now at a much brisker pace. “And what is _wrong_ with her? She’s like a—”

“—mindless zombie? I know,” finished Isabella, “she’s not able to talk anymore. She has to follow orders. That’s what you get when my father gets his hooks into you. Now’s not the time to talk about that stuff. I’ve sent a worm into the system so it will send everything haywire at approximately 12:15, when the systems restart from supposed updates. This whole house is configured to the same system, so it’s going to be complete chaos and everyone is going to get stuck outside, then the sprinklers are going to kick on and everyone will rush to their cars to keep their million dollar dresses and tuxes from getting soaked. When we try to pull away, they’ll be increasing security. We’ll probably have to crash right through the entrance checkpoint with the car that Quatre procures, and Edan will handle the suits that try to stop us. They’ll be so distracted by her that we’ll get away unnoticed.”

“You’ve thought this all out,” Heero said as they made their way through back corridors that she led them into. They needed to reach Trowa at the kitchens, “I didn’t understand at first why would couldn’t take the jeep we came here in, but you knew we’d be spotted trying to get back to it, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” She stopped them so that they could avoid some passing officers, then they continued off. Fiddling in her bag, she pulled out a phone, looked at the time—12:10—and then tossed the phone in a nearby plant. She couldn’t take it with her since it had a GPS locator within it, she knew. They waved down Trowa, who was not entirely surprised to see Isabella with the group. They hurried through the kitchens, towards the back entrance. All were relieved to see their blonde companion pilot leaning casually against a sleek black Jaguar that belonged to a particularly annoying General. Underneath of it, a hand stuck out limply. Barton raised a brow at Quatre, who shrugged.

“He was giving me some problems so I just knocked him out. Aren’t you Miss Vespasian Valentinian?”

“Oh, just call me Isabella,” she giggled in response, and the blonde male smiled in return. He opened the back door for her, deducing from her bag and shoes that she was coming with them, and offered his hand like a true gentleman. She took it and slid in, he after her. Trowa abruptly followed in after both of them. Wufei dragged the unconscious soldier out from beneath the car, so that he would not be harmed when they pulled away, and Heero went to the driver’s seat. He didn’t even reach the door before all of the lights went out in the house simultaneous, and the fireworks started. The doors slammed shut (they were all set up to go into lock down mode after a power outage—they were more like vault doors than actual doors.)

Though they could not see from their position, the group of five could hear screaming over the fireworks. One by one, the sprinklers kicked on everywhere, and the alert was sounded, Mobile Dolls and a select few piloted suits raised from their forest positions to guard the premises. Just as Isabella had predicted, drivers rushed to their cars to pick up the wealthy persons whom employed them, while the pilots worked on blending in with the rest of the moving cars. It was a difficult task, maneuvering through the sudden traffic, but Heero somehow managed.

“Put on station 87.9,” the only young woman in the car demanded.

“No,” Chang snapped, “this is not the time to be worried about music.”

“Oh, just do it!”

“No.”

“Wufei, if you don’t, I will,” Heero butted in with his monotone voice, “and that’s probably not a good idea while I’m driving.” Everyone in the back agreed. Muttering to himself about stupid women, the Chinese young man complied. At first, there was only static. Isabella pulled out her iPod though and soon sound could be heard. It wasn’t music, but CSO’s communication line.

_[White Horse subject, Code name Plague, has gone missing, as well as Red Horse subject, War.]_ Adelphie’s voice spoke, _[check all vehicles. Do not let them escape.]_ He was eerily calm about the situation.

“You told Edan to go to her _Red Horse,_ ” Heero stated.

“Yeah, and?”

“Is that a mobile suit? Is she a pilot?”

“Yeah, new model Gundams.” Isabella responded, “you’ve seen it with mine. The White and Red Horses. Mine is controlled differently than yours. Hers is closer to the original gundam models. She has duel blades.”

“That was her?” Wufei grumbled, sinking lower in his seat, arms still crossed. He was disliking that woman more and more.

“What is the difference between the White Horse and Plague. They said both,” Quatre asked, completely ignoring Wufei.

“I am Plague, the actual Gundam is White Horse. The names come from—”

“The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” the blonde male replied, nodding eagerly. “Yes, I know of them. But you are only two of them. What about the others?”

“Explanations later,” said Heero, “we’re forcing our way through. Hold on.” He hit the gas as soon as he found an opening and slipped past all of the other cars. He ignored the soldiers that tried to stop them. They broke through the checkpoint, forcing the closed gates open. Gun fire started up, but, thankfully for the General whom they stole the car from, it was reinforced. They were safe.

_[Sir! A black Jaguar just broke through our gates. It must be them!]_

_[All suits, pursue but do not, I repeat, **do not** destroy!]_

_[Copy, Lamb. Will pursue and retrieve.]_

_[Sir! Red Horse has just risen from her mountainside hanger. Has she been sent out to aid in the pursuit?]_

_[Negative]_ Adelphie’s voice said, _[she has receive no orders from base.]_

_[Then she’s acting on her own! Everyone, be warned that Red Horse’s motives are henceforth undetermined. Let’s hope she’s here to help…]_

_[Soldier! You’re speaking out of line! She cannot be acing without orders! It’s impossible.]_ His cool voice momentarily broken because of the rogue CSO Gundam pilot.

“What’s going on, Miss Isabella?” Quatre asked, and she shook her head.

“No need to call me ‘Miss,’” she answered, “my father’s just angry that Edan, while she does follow his orders, follows mine first. She prioritizes her objectives by what I tell her. They’re trying to get her to stand down, but she’s doing what I told her to, and covering our exit. See?” Pointing out of her window, a mobile doll that started to close in on them was destroyed by a single slash of the Red Horse’s blade. “Sadly, they will probably pull an emergency shut down, and she’ll go into a temporary coma until she recovers from the power surge. I feel terrible that I’m putting her through this, but there just is no other option.”

“You sound like you’re talking about a computer and not a person,” Trowa commented, watching as anything that came close to their escape vehicle was cut down.

“Yes, well, there isn’t much of a person left to her.”


	5. Verse V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gundam pilots adjust to the addition of a new rebel pilot and their role in the fight against CSO.

**_Verse V_ **

 

 

It was a three day, non-stop trip to reach Quatre’s residence out in the desert. They escaped by boat and then crossed into the Middle East with the help of some Maganac soldiers. By the time they got in, everyone was about ready for bed, considering it was almost four in the morning.

Well, almost everyone was aching for a bed at least. When a few maids and man servants rushed forward to help the pilots get situated, Isabella had no problem making herself at home by demanding a pot of very strong coffee.

“Uh, Miss Isabella,” Quatre started, a tired, semi-forced smile on his face, “don’t you think it’s a bit late for coffee? Wouldn’t you rather just rest? You couldn’t have slept more than a total of fifteen hours over the past three days…”

“That’s plenty for me, Besides,” she said and put her hands on her hips, “don’t you want me to help Duo Maxwell? I need to hook up with him as soon as possible to shut down as much CSO control as I can. He won’t be able to live his whole life without going in range of a satellite, you know.”

“I’ll take you to him,” Heero stated and started to walk away.

“Alright then. I’ll need my coffee and a change of clothes. Men’s are fine.” She followed after the young Japanese man.

“Can we trust her?” The master of the house asked as Wufei went his separate way, leaving him with Trowa. Not that Quatre really minded.

“What choice have we?”

 

Heero turned on the light, giving both he and Isabella a view of the pilot who could not go on the retrieval mission with them. The self proclaimed God of Death was lying on his side, breathing steadily. He didn’t even notice when the lights were turned on. “When we left him, he would fall asleep in the middle of sentences, and then wouldn’t wake for a few hours.”

“His stages weren’t finished, so I’m sure the chips are basically overloading and shutting down, putting him to sleep until they restart. I should be able to eliminate those problems easily. I have to create some new commands to make sure he’ll be able to bypass anything CSO tries to make him do on his own,” she said and looked around, clearing off a table to put her laptop on. She placed both of her hands beneath the wooden top and dragged it across the wooden floor to Duo’s bedside. “Clothes, please.”

Heero had no intention of leaving her alone in the room, so he did not respond to her. She did not press the issue as she continued about the room, setting up her makeshift work shop. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” asked Wing Zero’s pilot. Isabella stopped her work and rolled her head to look at him.

“Believe it or not, I have a genius level intelligence. I’ve been cracking encryptions since I was seven and creating my own since I was eight. I developed most of the systems that CSO runs off of while I was getting kicked out of Relena Peacecraft’s girls’ academy at the age of fourteen. While I didn’t develop the chips for the Red Horse project, I did for the Green, and, unknowingly, for the Black Horse project. Most of the work in Maxwell’s head belongs to me. The difficulty is just shutting down the stuff that won’t affect his normal operations,” the blonde explained, not hiding her annoyance with Heero. “I don’t want to work in my filthy dress.”

“You know Relena? How do you access the chips you’re talking about?” He sat on a bench at the window sill, crossing his arms and watching her intently.

“Yes, very well. She just _loves_ me,” she answered sarcastically, “there is a connection now drilled into his skull that plugs directly into the primary chip. It’s a very painful process, but it’s the only way for me to get into the very basic functions. The wireless has not been fully enabled yet, and hopefully won’t ever be.”

“Miss Isabella,” Quatre interrupted, coming into the room while carrying a pile of neatly folded clothing, “I’m sorry, I don’t have any women’s clothing in the house beside those which belong to the maids, and I feel that those would be inappropriate for a lady of your birth.” He looked around for a place to set the variety down, settling for the dresser. “Take whatever you need. I’ll send the coffee up when it is ready.”

Isabella stepped passed the blonde male, who was really only about her height, and she was of slightly above average woman stature, about 5’6”, and to the clothing stack. She found a small tee shirt, that probably belonged to Quatre in his younger years, and a pair of athletic shorts. She wasted no time sliding the pair of shorts on beneath her dress and turning to the blonde male to have him undo the back of her dress. He shifted uncomfortably and raised his hands, unable to bring himself to undo the lady’s dress.

Luckily, his companion entered into the room just in time for his rescue. Trowa motioned for Quatre to step back, and he moved forward to unlace the dress—working so long in the circus had rid him of any shyness he may have had around women. That didn’t necessarily mean that he liked them, however. She turned slightly so that she was facing away from all three males in the room, pulling the tee shirt over her head. She slid the dress down and off, tossing it in a crumpled pile in the corner of the large room. Throwing her blonde hair up into a high, messy pony tail, she sighed.

“Now, down to business.” She pulled up a cushioned chair to the table and sat down, “I can’t make you leave but you cannot interfere with my work. I also can’t be answering questions—it will only distract me. I promise though that I will sit through a full inquiry afterwards, when we’re all rested up. Okay?” The men looked at each other and nodded.

She cracked her knuckles and rubbed her fingers a bit, as if warming them up for the tasks that they would soon be performing. Exhaling, Isabella started up numerous programs at once. Her laptop was custom made, one that she had built after two previous attempts had melted down on her at the end of almost a thousand hours. That just wasn’t good enough for her. This one was much more durable.

She had more things plugged in than a normal computer could hold—touch pads, keyboards with extra symbols, different drives… she had truly brought her work station with her. Lastly, she inserted a CD into her drive, holding it very carefully, as if it would break into a billion pieces at any moment. “Project Black Horse: open,” she said into a head piece that they had not noticed she had put on. The pilots assumed that it was hooked onto her ear like most, a menacing looking point lined up with her left eye and a microphone-like piece near her mouth. “View: current status.”

“Who is she talking to?” Quatre whispered up to Barton, who shrugged in response.

“My computer,” she stated, “now—shh.” Isabella started typing away. Heero dared to walk around and looked at the screen.

“That’s impossible to work with,” he said, “it’s utter nonsense, even in computer language. I don’t recognize it at all.”

“Of course not, I developed it only a few years ago. Stop looking over my shoulder or leave!” He complied and went back to his seat by the window. “Okay, there’s some good news and some bad. I can cut off CSO’s control, but if I do that, he may have to relearn some basic functions, and I can’t tell you what those will be. Also, I’ll probably have to update the neurochips periodically for the rest of his life to make sure his brain can function normally and smoothly, as if it were never toyed with.”

“But—”

“No questions!” She snapped again and the blonde male who has spoken fell silent once more. “It’s going to take a few hours. Some of you should really sleep. I’m going to put my iPod in, so talking to me will be useless.” As Isabella reached down to her canvas bag and rummaged around, there was a knock at the door. Quatre opened it and allowed a maid to come in, sliding in a silver card with a few coffee pots, cups, sweetener, and anything someone could possibly want with their coffee. Isabella jumped up quickly, iPod now in hand, and smiled brightly. “Just the _scent_ invigorates me!” Pouring what would be the first of many cups of coffee, she added only a bit of sweetener, blew on the hot liquid to cool it down, though it was really futile, and took a deep gulp. And then another. And then another. She filled her cup up again, returning to her seat after.

The three pilots were slightly disgusted by the way she practically chugged her black coffee.

“Let’s go,” Barton urged the master of the house, “Heero will stay. We’ll just be watching something we can’t see.” The two disappeared while she put both ear buds in and turned on her music.

Neither the pilot nor the hacker spoke again until just after sun up. “Terminate orders,” she said abruptly, typing away, “repeat: terminate orders.” CSO’s communication satellite was working beyond it’s normal capabilities to search out the pilots and Isabella. Duo sat up sharply and then stood. He looked at her through half open eyes and took a few steps forward, waking Heero from his dozing slumber.

“Duo?”

“No, he’s under CSO control, they just tapped into him,” Isabella responded, trying her best to shut him down without harming him. The braided pilot grabbed her and she struggled with him. Heero immediately grabbed him from behind. With her free hand and verbal commands, she knocked him out, but not before he could reach her head piece. She let out a horrifying scream as he pulled it out. As he fell, so did the piece, now covered in blood.  She cradled the side of her head, trying not to cry while Heero set Duo back into the bed.

“What’s wrong?”

“I need a towel or something, fast,” she replied, her voice cracking, “and maybe some heavy pain killers.” Wing Zero’s pilot grabbed a tea towel and handed it to her. He watched as she placed it to the side of her head, wiping away some blood that now stained her platinum blonde hair. Where had it come from? She went back into her bag and pulled out a small mirror, holding it at a certain angle to see a spot just below her ear.

“What is—“ he furrowed his brows. She had a small, circular area in her damned head, and _that_ was where the head piece had been. “What _are_ you?”

“I’m a freaking human being, okay?” She snapped, brushing away tears that had managed to escape before gingerly cleaning the area, “I’ve also undergone neuro procedures, but not as much as the others. Mine is not for control or anything. It gives me direct connection into computer systems, since the brain is nothing more than the most sophisticated computer ever created. We can’t replicate the brain power in a computer form, so CSO decided to find a way to put the mind _into_ a computer. It’s how I access networks and why I can break into practically anything, including the brains of projects Red, Black, and Green Horse.”

“Were you… made for this?” Heero asked, more out of curiosity than anything.

“If you’re asking me if I was created in a lab, then no,” Isabella responded, breathing deeply. She looked at the head piece and frowned. “My father had my mother killed when she refused to give me up to him for his projects. I had shown a very high intelligence from a young age, so I was the perfect choice. I’m going to have to reverse this for the time being. I can’t plug in for now, so he’ll have to.” She nodded to Duo.

“Your own father put you up for such a thing?” Heero asked, more of a comment than anything. Suddenly, he was rather glad that he did not know who his parents were. He wouldn’t have every wanted to know his parents if they were, well, psychotic like Adelphie appeared to be.

“Yes, well,” she sighed and tossed the towel down onto the table, “I’m not the only daughter of someone who volunteered her for the projects. I’m just the lucky one. More later. I need to finish resetting him before CSO restarted his chips.” Isabella stood and went to Duo’s side, carefully searching for a similar connector also in his skull. She found it and went back to her table to get a cord from a box—one that Heero knew had been pulled from a locked cabinet in the tower. It had a sharp end, and, as much as he wanted to reach out and stop her, it took a brief moment for her to hook Duo up and connect the other end to her laptop. She frowned and shook her head. “This just got quite a bit harder…”

For two more hours, she did not stop work. She went through more coffee than Yuy would have ever thought humanly possible, and went through a number of procedures, most of which he did not recognize. No wonder it had been so difficult for them to try to hack into CSO’s systems. They had been designed using a completely new, sophisticated form. Finally, she sat back and stretched. “We should be good. He’ll stop falling asleep, and unless he gets too close to the subject of Green Horse, Vince deBordaris, CSO won’t tap into him. Let him rest up and everything restart. We’ll have to see what, if any, basic functions have to be re-taught.”

“Hn.”

“Right… so why don’t you find out where I can shower and sleep, and then we’ll talk after?” Isabella started closing down all of her things and packing up. She had no intention of leaving her precious laptop within reach of the curious Gundam pilots, who would most definitely go snooping around if they had the chance. Heero left and searched out a maid, who told him that a room had already been set up on the eastern side of the estate. It was on the second floor and its door was already open. He went back, grabbed the blonde young woman, and marched her down the hallways until they reached her room.

“You’re going to be locked in. We’ll get you after we’re ready to deal with you,” he stated as he let her go into the room. He was not to be argued with.

“Yeah, whatever, I’ll sleep until then.” She shut the door, listening as he did, in fact, lock her in. Heero, afterwards, went to his own room to sleep off the stress of their now accomplished mission.

By two in the afternoon everyone, _everyone_ , was sitting in Quatre’s library, staring at the now brightly smiling Duo as he gulped down all of the tea sandwiches a maid had brought out for them. “I tell ya,” he said between gulps, “food hasn’t tasted his damned good in almost a freaking year, I swear.”

“One of the first things they did to you was to start to inhibit your enjoyment. The food tastes exactly the same, but now your mind can register how much you actually like the taste. Before, it was just nourishment, stuff for survival, not something you could really like,” explained Isabella, who sat cross legged in a cushioned leather chair, sipping on a cup of coffee.

“Gotcha. What are you, a scientist?” Death Scythe’s pilot asked, waving about a half eaten ham and pear sandwich. She shook her head and was going to answer when Chang spoke up instead.

“She’s Adelphie’s daughter,” he said, his expression dark, “we’re housing the child of the man who captured us and toyed with us. We should kill her, or use her to our advantage, not take care of her.” Everyone turned to Duo, whose cheerfulness had faded.

“You left voluntarily, right?” He asked her, and she nodded, “I guess that makes you either a spy or a rebel. I can understand the spy angle, but what’s the rebel one? Why would you leave the comfort of your luxury home? The protection of your father? Risking everything to help us? This isn’t a game you know.” Duo resumed eating, watching her intently. Now she was the one whose smile had faded. She didn’t answer.

“You said your father killed your mother,” Heero stated after no one said anything. “Trinity Orestes Vespasian Valentinian was in the business of arms dealing, but she did it under the cover of military research, correct? So they had you, sealing their undocumented negotiations, because neither wanted the other as a competitor. Your mother wouldn’t hand you over though, because she was supposed to use you as her subject, not because she actually loved you and wanted to protect you.” It was a mouthful for the normally silent pilot. Quatre jumped up, appalled by what he had just said. Isabella raised her hand and shook her head.

“He’s right,” she sighed, “you’ve done your research, Mr. Yuy. She was supposed to handle project White Horse while my father did the other three. He decided that he didn’t want her involved because he didn’t want her to have any claim over me or the projects, and with no claim she would thus have no right to actually use any of the projects. She was ruthless, just as my father still is. They fought it out in a nasty way, trying to ruin each other for some time. It took three assassination attempts before he was able to get a semi truck to intentionally hit her car, killing both her and her driver. I became his and his alone. Of course, being the very bright child I was, I went along with everything, and kept the control chip from being implanted, unlike Red and Black Horse subjects.”

“So you’re here because…”

“I want to help you,” the blonde answered simply, “plus, it will be a new challenge. I like challenges.”

The silence befell the room once more, and Duo was once again munching on his food. Heero watched the young woman, and how her eyes showed that she was lost somewhere else, deep in her thoughts. She would occasionally glance up, take in her surroundings and the people within it, absorbing every detail of the large library with large windows flooding the room with desert light. Heero recognized the way she made a note of each of them and the way they interacted with each other, as if she were studying them. However, it was not so much the way a spy would learn every detail, but like a researcher. He could reason that Isabella, with all of the privileges and riches she was born with, had lived a rather lonely and reserved life when it came to people. Much like themselves.

“So, what now?” The twenty five year old Heavy Arms pilot asked, placing a hand on Quatre’s chair top.

“I reconfigure your systems. I’m guessing you’re going to want to go to the Lunar-2m base to spring Milliardo Peacecraft, aka Zechs Marquise, and Lucrezia Noin, am I right? They’ve been help there for a few months now, and I’m sure they’ll be of help if you want a full on revolution,” Isabella replied and stood, her bare feet touching the cool wood floor. “I will just change into a pair of jeans you gave me, grab my laptop, and be ready to spend the rest of the day hard at work helping you guys.”

And so she did.

“What do you think of her?” Duo asked, walking up, juggling an apple back and forth between his hands. Pilot 01 didn’t even turn to glance at him. They were in the underground hanger where not only their Gundams were stored, but some of the Maganac corps suits as well.

“Don’t trust her,” Heero grunted in response.

“Yeah, didn’t think you would, but hey,” he said, biting into the juicy red apple, “she helped me out. Feel better than I have in seriously long time. Plus, she’s cute.” The braided young man walked past the perfect soldier, patting him on his shoulder as he did so. Duo was off to flirt with one of the few women he had even seen in a few months.

The hanger echoes as pilot 02 called out to the young woman who was working on SandRock. Heero walked away, leaving the two to chat. He had another woman in mind at the moment, one who could be much more useful to him.

It was _not_ Relena, though he had thought about calling her to inquire more about their temporary housemate. He had decided against it since it was very likely that CSO was monitoring her, expecting some form of contact from either him or another pilot.

He traveled up the industrial elevator, heading back up to the main house. It only took a few seconds for the machine to screech to a halt and open its doors. He had to physically open the grates that were locked when it was not in use himself. The elevator doors were hiding behind a huge tapestry; it was red fabric bearing the Winner’s crest, reaching from the ceiling to the floor.

The hallways of Quatre’s residence were always so bare—not of decorations of anything, but of people. He kept only a few members of hired help on his staff, most of who were affiliated with the Maganac. Unless Rashid or other men of the corps were stopping by for some reason, the hallways barely saw any action. Heero turned a corner and went freely into the house mater’s office. The door was open, signaling that it was acceptable to enter. The blonde was on the phone, speaking in Italian to whoever was on the other line. He raised his hand and Heero nodded. Silently, the Wing Zero pilot sat across from Quatre in a perfectly carved wooden chair.

“Mm, si, si, ciao,” he hung up the phone and smiled at Heero from across his desk, lacing his fingers together in front of him, “what can I do for you?” Quatre, on top of fighting as a rebel and working to defeat CSO’s technology, he also had to run the Winner’s family business. His multitasking was amazing. However, when he was behind his desk, the blonde was in full business mode.

“Any word on the aftermath of our rescue?”

“Yes, actually, that was what I was just speaking about. A friend of mine just informed me that the entire country is going crazy. There has been a nationwide alert issued for all of us, as well as Miss Isabella, however…” Quatre trailed on, looking slightly smug.

“What?”

“Well, they can only describe us. There are no images on file, our previous _persons of interest_ files were mysteriously deleted, and all security footage has been corrupted. They know what Isabella looks like, but she could be mistaken for millions of other blonde hair, blue eyed girls. We’re in the clear for the time being,” said the wealthy family heir. Heero barely blinked.

“Isabella. She’s a liability. We need to get rid of her as soon as she finishes with our suits.”

A cold stillness settled into the room, and Quatre’s smile fell, “I knew you would say something like that, of course. But what about Duo? What if something goes wrong? We won’t be able to do anything about it.” Heero shrugged.

“I think she’s bluffing. To make sure she keeps her usefulness. She said she’s smart—I believe it. She knows we’ll get rid of her when she’s no longer worth the trouble.”

“I know, I know,” Quatre sighed, “just… let’s not rush into anything. Once you kill her, that’s it, she won’t be back to help us if we need her.”

_000_

“Yes, thank you very much,” Trowa said and took a brown bag filled with clothes from the woman behind the countertop. At first, when he walked into the women’s clothing store, everyone had looked at him strangely. What did he care, though? He didn’t, not one bit. But when one woman refused to help him, he came up with a quick story. He said that his younger sister had flown in to visit him, but her luggage was lost on the way, and needed new clothes. They believed him.

Sadly, the clothing choices weren’t exactly fashionable. They were mostly Middle Eastern garb that were worn by the local women in the town, which was about an hour’s drive away from Quatre’s estate. Other than that, it was made up of more militaristic clothing targeting a slim market consisting of women fighting as rebels in the area. He bought a mixture of both, just in case.

Wufei had also come into town with Barton. It had been a quiet ride.

Trowa walked into a slightly dingy pub and immediately spotted the Chinese male, who stuck out pretty badly, considering the scenery. He was sitting with Rashid, both speaking in hushed tones. When he joined their table, neither gave him more than a glance. “—but yes, I managed to dig up just a little bit on her. There isn’t much available, my guess is that most of it is classified information. Even some of the CSO agents we… questioned… only knew of her by name.”

“Who are we talking about?” Trowa asked and waved to the barmaid to bring him a drink. Anything at this point would do. “Isabella?” Wufei frowned and Rashid shook his head.

“No. The young woman known as Edan,” the bulky Arab answered.

“Ah, her.”

“When I had my match with her,” Wufei said, “all of the soldiers around seemed to recognize her and her style—that is, they noticed that she fought with her right hand, but switched to her left. I therefore assumed that many if not all soldiers knew who she was. That does not seem to be the case.” Wufei actually had a drink in front of him, Barton noticed. He must have been thoroughly aggravated with the situation. He drank the least out of all of them. He did not like feeling like he was not in control, however slight it may have been.

“No one knows her first name,” answered Rashid, who gulped down his drink, “some know her as Edan, which we assume is her last name, but most know her only as _War_ , she has no rank—”

“That’s strange,” Trowa commented, “since at the party she wore an outfit for a ranking soldier—possibly even a Colonel.”

“—and she’s been involved with CSO for at least ten years.” Wufei and Trowa both opened their mouths to speak, but then closed them, a slightly confused expression on their features.

“She couldn’t have been more than—”

“—maybe twenty two or twenty three,” Chang finished for Trowa. Rashid shrugged.

“That’s just what I heard. No one knows much. Best person to ask is that Isabella. People said that they’re known to be friends. Now,” he said and put down money to pay for all three of their drinks, “I’ve got to take my leave. A shipment of suit parts should be coming in, and I’ve got to receive them. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again soon.” Rashid stood, bowed slightly, and then left, leaving the two young men to their thoughts, and, of course, their drinks.

“Do you want to ask our guest about—”

“—the mindless zombie?”

“Yeah,” Trowa said, “her.”

“Not one bit.” Chang raised his glass to his mouth and gazed intently at the slight crease in the paper money that Rashid had left behind.

“Nor do I.”

_000_

“Lady Une, yes, no, yes, tell her it’s a family emergency. She’ll accept. No, I’m not lying. It really is an emergency. Her nephew. Of course she has siblings. Yes, a brother. He’s dead. Now get her on the phone,” Heero demanded and hit his head off of the back of Quatre’s chair. It was always such a pain trying to get in touch with diplomats. Une’s secretary just refused to connect him through. Finally, he was put on hold.

“Une,” a female voice answered with a sigh.

“It’s Yuy,” he responded.

“Oh! What a surprise. How are you? I heard you crashed Prime Minister Adelphie’s house warming party,” she said with amusement, even a slight giggle.

“Fine. Yeah, we did. Everyone knows?”

“Well, no,” she sighed again, but this time, with a happier tone, “they have no proof, but all of us who know you—well, we had no doubt, the moment it happened, we knew. Relena was very unhappy though. She’s angry that you haven’t contacted her for sometime…”

“Hn,” he responded, and though he couldn’t see it, she rolled her eyes at him, “and what about his daughter?”

“Isabella? Everyone’s in a total uproar over her. He says you kidnapped her. That’s not true, right?” Lady Une asked, actually concerned that he did

“Of course not.”

“Oh, that’s good because I really thought—”

“She came with us by choice,” he said. She shrieked in response.

“What?! How could you let her go with you?! Adelphie will hunt you down! And if you survive, Relena will murder you herself!” Lady Une shouted, and he could hear her slam her hand on what was probably her desk.

“I know, Relena doesn’t like her—”

“That’s an understatement,” muttered the woman, “Relena, if she could hate anyone, it would probably be Isabella Vespasian Valentinian. She was a thirteen year old genius who caused more trouble than she was worth at the Sanc Kingdom, what with her pranks and ever changing grades… And now, her father is holding Relena’s brother and potential sister in law captive! You, surely, can see why this will lead to bad places, don’t you?”

“Sounds almost like Duo… Right now, Une, there’s not much I can do. We need her help getting past CSO’s viruses, so I can’t get rid of her just yet. As soon as we’re operational, the first thing we’ll do it get Zechs and Noin. You can tell her that, but _don’t_ tell her about Isabella, “Heero said, showing that he was about done with their conversation.

“I understand,” Une replied, “good luck to you, all of you.”

“We’ll be in touch.” They disconnected and Heero sat, taking a few moments to gather his thoughts What should they do? What was the best course of action?

First and foremost, they had to retrieve Zechs and Noin. Those two would surely come for them if they had the means. Maybe they should get in touch with Sally Poe… He would think about that at some point. For now, he had to give Quatre back his spacious office and secured telephone line.

_000_

 “So,” Duo said from the cockpit of Deathscyth. He was helping the blonde debug and reconfigure the Gundam systems. “I realize that you’re Adelphie’s daughter and all, but how did you get into, well, you know, all of _this._ ” He waved his hand about to all of the Gundam parts and computer equipment. She shrugged.

“I told you, my father chose me for his experiments when I showed such high intellect.”

“Yeah, but you did so, _willingly_ ,” he said, raising a brow. She paused for a moment, her shoulders dropping and gazing off to the side, as if remembering something she’d rather not.

“When Edan resisted, they took away her humanity. When that happens, you have no control over your own body, no way to stop yourself when your conscious is telling you _no, don’t do it._ I didn’t want that to happen to me, so I did what I was told, planning my escape without anyone’s knowledge,” Isabella sighed. Duo let all of the information sink in before he nodded in understanding.

“Okay, I guess that makes sense… would that have happened to me?” He touched the side of his head, grazing over the implant that protruded from his skull.

“You’re one chip away from being almost completely under their control. Aren’t you glad I helped break you free and set your escape suit to autopilot so you’d get back safely? I’ve risked so much to help you.” She was quite sure that if she was ever caught, they would put her back under the knife to implant a control chip. She would rather kill herself than go back to being her father’s slave. “You’ll be fine, don’t worry. Any problem you have, I should be able to correct. Boot her up.”

“Aye, aye, beautiful,” Duo responded with a grin and started Deathscythe Hell. The hum of his suit was comforting to him. He leaned forward and hugged one of the control consoles. “Oh, I missed you.” Being unconscious for almost the whole of a month had kept him from his darling Gundam, and even before then, he only had one opportunity to take her out for a spin. That time, however, he ended up attacking his friends and falling unconscious again anyhow. He looked forward to piloting his Gundam with no worried. “The screens are different,” he noted and called out to Isabella.

“Well, do you like them or not?”

“Uh, I guess. The windows are more organized and sleeker looking. The new font is bigger and easier to read. It’s different, that’s all,” the braided pilot said.

“Are you sure, because I can change it back just as easily…”

“No, no,” he called out, “I like it, really. I’m sure the guys will too.” In reality, he wasn’t so sure about that. He wasn’t lying—but he just knew that the others weren’t always happy when changes were made to their Gundams. “How much more until you’re done?”

“I don’t know,” she said absently, “twenty minutes? Half of an hour? My alterations are processing right now, and then I just want to run my program to see if CSO can still break through. They shouldn’t be able to, but we don’t want any surprises…”

“Well, we can leave it run and go—”

“No,” Isabella interrupted quickly, “I don’t leave my laptop unless I absolutely have to.” Duo blinked, surprised by her slightly snappish response.

“Oh, okay,” he said slowly. It was like moving cautiously because a deadly creature was around, talking to a woman. A guy could never know when their attitude would suddenly just… change. “Well, if I go and get us lunch from the kitchen staff, want to eat together? I’ll make sure to bring back coffee…”

“Coffee?” She immediately perked up, sitting straight from her lounging position or the metal platform some feet below him, “yes, okay. I won’t be going anywhere for a while-- though Yuy and Chang may lose it if I’m left along with your suits. I’m sure they think I’m going to sabotage them or something. As if I couldn’t do that whenever I wanted,” she laughed arrogantly.

“If they have a problem with it, they can just come down and watch your every move themselves. They’d get real bored, real fast,” Duo replied and hopped out of Deathscythe.

“And you don’t?”

“Heck no!” He grinned mischievously, “out of all five of us, _I’m_ the one who can most appreciate a lovely woman.” With that, he went down the metal stairs, the rubber of his black converse making only a small amount of noise. Isabella shook her head and rolled her eyes. She had, of course, had young men (and sometimes not so young men) flirt with her before. Usually, they tried to be at least a little subtle. Duo Maxwell however, did not know the term subtle when it came to women. 


	6. Verse VI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gundam pilots prepare to head back to outer space, while Project War incurs the wrath of Dorian Adelphie.

**_Verse VI_ **

 

“Do it.”

“But—but—”

“Do not make me repeat myself,” Dorian Adelphie said coolly to one of his head neurosurgeons. The lab coated male frowned and nodded his head reluctantly. He waved to a nurse in the background of the dimly lit room. She walked into the next room, her heels clicking as she went. Adelphie crossed his arms, tapping his ringed middle finger against the dark fabric of his suit.

A gurney was rolled in from the connecting maximum security cell next to the medical wing, though the cell wasn’t needed. Edan had been in a state of almost suspended animation since the night at the manor about five days prior. War, the Project Red Horse subject, needed to be reactivated before the approaching rebel attack and Isabella was nowhere around to do it the easy way. Instead, Adelphie had to transport his surgery staff to the Lunar base so that they could manually activate the central chip.

“This is doctor Thrice,” the neurosurgeon said into a microphone hanging down from the ceiling after a nurse clicked it on, “at 09:00 we will manually restart the central chip implant.” Three doctors, two nurses, and Adelphie remained in the room for the next eighteen minutes, some going about the various tasks that had to be completed before they could commence. At precisely 9 o’clock in the morning, Edan was strapped into the operation chair, and scalpels were prepared. They would reduce as much pain as possible… but they couldn’t make it painless.

Adelphie watched through narrowed eyes as his first successful project went through the very unnatural process. For years, he had to conduct his research without the science community watching. His head surgeon, Thrice, had lost everything in a fire, leaving him with just the clothes on his back and his one daughter. And, of course, the enormous amount of debt he had racked up to the wrong sort of people. Adelphie had the means to solve all of Thrice’s problems, if, and only if, Thrice produced some progress.

Well, he did, though it cost him his only daughter. Thrice, when he proved that the brain could be manipulated if it was done so at an early age, gave himself a lifetime of security. Isabella came next, but only after Edan had survived for two years. After more trials, and more failures—some died, many turned out to be vegetables, and some… some now lived the rest of their lives as inpatients at psychiatric wards.

Vince deBordaris was entered into CSO’s trials after he was captured by Mariemaia’s army. He was out of control, and CSO pushed to have him sent to their facilities. He was perfect for their main project. So, he received a new life, one that frequently involved the very beautiful and wealthy Moira.

When the previous subject of the Black Horse Project managed to kill himself, Adelphie and his board of experts had to choose a new person to be Famine’s replacement. Duo Maxwell, a Gundam pilot who had proved to have extraordinary mental capacities, was chosen upon his capture.

Plague, War, Famine, and Death. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were under Adelphie’s control. He had not only an army behind him, but the four who could reshape the face of Earth and all of mankind. He had the ability to destroy everything and rebuild it as he pleased.

Some probably considered him crazy.

But he had the ability, the resources, and the drive, so why not take over and play God? “War has been officially activated,” Thrice said and stepped back. Edan’s eyes shot open and she tried to struggle against her bonds, but it was useless. Breathing heavy, she calmed down as Adelphie went to her side and stared down at her.

“No more outbursts will be tolerated, do you understand? I am your Father, your Mother, your Brother and Sister, I am your Lord and Master. You are my Servant and **_you will obey me._** ” The middle aged Prime Minster said, his voice smooth as silk. He waited for any sign that she had registered what he had said at all. No, there was nothing. Not even the slightest flicker in her eyes. That was exactly what he wanted. She could have no free will of her own if her efficiency was to be maximized. “Make sure to lock up all of the documentation.” The suited male left the room with no other exchange of words. The surgeons finished with their procedures and disconnected their microphones.

As the others cleaned up, Thrice remained by Edan’s side, stroking her hair. “I’m sorry,” he muttered, “so sorry.” It was the same thing he always said when he finished an operation on her. She stared back at him with her lifeless eyes. She had no idea who he was, no recollection of whatever happier times they might have had—if there were any intermixed through her years of neglect and abuse. Thrice sighed and shook his head, letting his hands drop to his side.

In reality, she had stopped being his daughter years ago. She was just an experiment now. He simply felt it was his obligation to apologize each time. The lights were shut off and she was left alone, in the dark, to keep her from experiencing the excoriating pain that light would sometimes cause after an operation. Well, hopefully they wouldn’t need to use her until she had proper time to recover.

_000_

“Isabella,” Heero called out to the girl who was blaring music in the Gundam hanger, “ _Isabella_.” She looked up from her mobile workstation and quickly muted the music, cutting off the sound coming from the speakers connected to her computer.

“Uh, yes?” She adverted her gaze and messed with her pony tail. She looked fidgety, as she probably should. Duo and Isabella thought that it would be particularly funny to open one of the backhouse windows that was above one of the doors and dump a bucket of ice water on whoever walked out—whoever being Trowa or Quatre, _maybe_ Rashid or Heero. Of course, with their wonderful luck, who was the first person to walk out onto the back patio to go do some meditation? Wufei.

 

It took all three of the pilots to keep Chang from hunting down the two pranksters with his sword. The sight of the wet, Chinese male, his dark hair in drenched strands and his soaked shirt making his clan seal stick to him was rather amusing though, she had to admit to herself. Still it did not bode well with the others. Maxwell had to ride into town with Quatre and Trowa to keep him away from the murderous Wufei, and Isabella had been confined to either her bedroom or the hanger until all was clear. Heero, needless to say, was not happy that he was stuck on babysitting duty. “Are our suits ready to be transported and used?” Wing Zero’s pilot asked.

“They should be,” she replied and stood. Leaning against the railing, she tapped the toe of her show against the metal platform, “we’re going to the Lunar base?”

“I don’t know what you mean by _we_ ,” Yuy said monotonously, “because you are not. Us pilots are going. Relena got Sally Poe to gather rebels to attack. We’ll go to meet them for support—though they won’t know it until we get there.”

“I have every intention of going. Edan will be there, no doubt. I have to save her.”

“From what I saw,” Heero said, turning his back to her, “there wasn’t much left to save.”

_000_

When everyone had safely returned, and Wufei had calmed down just enough to be in the hanger with Duo and Isabella, even if on total opposite sides, Quatre stood in the center of the area to talk to the crowd. The Maganac Corps were littered around the hanger, the Gundam pilots amongst them. “Everyone,” the blonde called out, his voice echoing in the huge chamber, bouncing off of every piece of metal, “everyone, rebel forces are gathering to attack CSO’s Lunar base, mostly in attempt to release many POWs held there. We’ve given them our Aries suit software to protect them against CSO’s shut down program, thanks to the lovely Isabella—” the young woman, some forty feet above on a platform waved, beaming brightly, “—so this is the best chance we have. We will defeat enemy forces, rescue more POWs than anyone else has done in the past three years, and prove to Prime Minster Adelphie that we won’t sit idly by while he restricts the freedoms that we, as human beings, are born with. Will you join me?”

The red-capped men threw their fists into the air cheering, showing their support for their commander. Isabella was slightly taken aback by the sudden surge of noise, and even jumped a little. “The Maganac Corps are all fiercely loyal to Quatre,” Duo leaned over and whispered in her ear when the shouting died down, “they’ve followed him as their commander for over five years now. We can always rely on them for help. Did CSO know that?”

Isabella shook her head, a few loose strands of blonde falling out of her sloppy bun. “We’ve known them to help but we had no account of official alliance. It seemed more like a convenience sort of thing, you know?” She whispered back as Winner continued speaking. He wrapped everything up and they quickly dispersed, immediately in soldier mode. The Maganac planned to be ready within the next two hours. “So how do we get to space? There’s no launch pad here, unless you’re hiding it under a whole lot of sand…”

“Naw,” Duo chuckled and turned around, backing against the metal railing casually. He gazed up at the stationary Deathscythe, who towered over them begging for someone to pilot her, “we’ll ship out in a few hours to fly to a launch pad about a two, two and a half hour flight away, get everything switched over and then take off into space. In six hours, we should be leaving the atmosphere. Maybe you’ll grace me with your company until we reach the resource satellite that we’re supposed to hide out at?”

“Wow, you aren’t bashful at all, are you?”

“Nope, not one bit,” the braided young man grinned widely, placing his hands behind his head and lacing his fingers together, “plus, while I was captive, I never saw _any_ women. You should be glad that I’m not just all over you,” he laughed, finding nothing wrong with his statement. “So how about it?”

Isabella rolled her eyes. She didn’t like amorous attention simply because she was the only female around. “Yes, well, we’ll see,” she responded dryly, scooping up her canvas bag with her laptop within it. She turned on her heel and stared to walk away, her grey and white tennis shoes making it easy to slide around on the metal. Duo blinked, confusion in his violet eyes.

“Wait,” he called out, his arms dropping to his sides, “what did I do?!”

 

They loaded up their suits, planning their transport through numerous underground channels and obscured flight paths until they reached their launch pad. Thankfully, Isabella was not left alone with Duo, but with pilots 01, 02, 03, and 05. Quatre rode with the Corps. Isabella mostly sat with her iPod in, slouching down in her seat, one foot up on the seat in front of her. Wufei did not appreciate her constant tapping. When he tried to stop her, she pretended she couldn’t hear him. She had been in a relatively bad mood since they had started their pack up almost four hours prior.

“This is why we don’t have women as Gundam pilots,” Chang snapped after he finally turned around and grabbed her ankle, sliding it off of his seat. She scowled at him. Trowa and Heero both nodded in agreement _very_ quickly. “Just get me out of here…” The Chinese male sat with one arm across his chest and the other resting on it. He squeezed his eyes shut and put this thumb and forefinger on the bridge of his nose. Luckily, they did not have much further to go until Heero landed their aircraft.

They double checked their seatbelts before Yuy started their descent in the mobile suit carrier. It was a rather rough ride. Duo laughed when he saw the only female with them digging her nails into the seat’s arm rest. “What’s wrong? Scared?”

“No,” she snapped, “I’m just used to smoother rides.”

“Sorry our mode of transportation isn’t up to par with your _fine needs_ ,” Duo said, well, shouted. It was difficult to hear over the sound of the plane, and it had only become worse while they closed in on the runway below. Isabella did not respond; she put her head back, staring at the ceiling, trying to keep from getting a headache. Pilot 02 just smirked and gazed out through the front, main window. He was just thrilled to be out and about, doing something to help the rebel efforts. He wanted to take CSO down more than probably most did.

It took only about five minutes to land, and another ten to get off of the mobile suit carrier. Isabella practically jumped off, finding the nearest place to steady herself—a Jeep waiting to take them across to the space craft. The Maganac would get their Gundams transferred under Quatre and Trowa’s watchful eyes. “We have to prepare for rendezvous in nineteen hours,” Heero said as he jumped out from his side. “Duo and Quatre, Trowa and Wufei, Isabella, you’re with me. Can you prepare a ship for launch?”

“Well, yeah, but—”

“Head over with Chang and Maxwell, get our ships ready,” Heero stated, giving her a look that clearly showed he should not be argued with. Her head fell, and she dragged her feet as she walked to the Jeep. She hopped into the passenger seat. 

“I’m driving!” Duo called out, immediately diving into the driver’s seat, turning the key, which was already in the ignition, and revving the engine, all in one fluid motion. The Chinese male balled his hands into fists, looking at Yuy with a very dark expression. Pilot 01 shrugged and turned away to walk with Trowa. Wufei was just so ready to murder the braided fool and the blonde bitch. He didn’t even want to ride in the vehicle with them. Still, he had no choice but to hop onto the back—though he had to quickly steady himself because the moment he was up on the back seat, Duo lurched forward, speeding off towards the other side of the desert air/space port.

The hot air whipped around them as they drove down the cement and asphalt pad that was slightly covered with a thin layer of sand. Many of the Maganac Corps members cleared their way when they saw Duo in the driver’s seat. Those who didn’t move wished they had when the braided pilot weaved around both people and other vehicles, cutting some very close. Isabella was sitting down lowly, once again holding onto the seat for dear life, and Wufei was gripping the roll-top bar tightly. Duo drifted around a bend, causing the woman to suck in sharply and squeeze her eyes shut.

Shortly after, they slowed to a stop. Thankfully, they had arrived safely. Somehow.

“You drive like an American,” the blonde muttered, escaping the car as quickly as she had escaped the mobile suit carrier a short time before.

“Hey, I’m a _good_ driver,” he said defensively, opening the door and stepping down to the ground, “dunno what _you’re_ talking about…”

“Both of you,” Chang shouted, stomping off to the third ship set up for his suit and HeavyArms, “get to your ships and start set up. We don’t have time for your ridiculous squabbling.” He refused to stand around waiting for whatever sarcastic remarks may have been coming to him. Isabella grabbed her laptop bag and went to the first ship being prepared for Wing Zero’s transport. She wasn’t supposed to be heading into battle, so she had no suit to use.

Sometime later, after the Gundams were all loaded up and secured to be launched into space, Heero, Quatre, and Trowa went to the three ships, respectively. “Have you ever been in one of these?” Pilot 01 asked as he walked in from the doors behind Isabella. He sat down in the main pilot’s seat and glanced around to make sure all set up procedures had been done correctly. It was basically perfect.

“Only once,” she replied, “I usually rode in my father’s passenger ship until I reached my destination. When I did go up, it was a practice run, just to make sure I would be fine on my own if it did come down to it.”

“And things went well?”

“I only nearly blew the ship up once.” 

_000_

“How are you holding up?” Trowa was now sitting next to Wufei, waiting for the command for launch. When he had come in, all preparations had been done, and Wufei was sitting back with his eyes closed, most likely in meditation. Surely he needed it.

“I look forward to facing CSO’s soldiers,” the Chinese male responded, “I need to relieve some stress and aggravation.” They left the conversation at that. The two were not the type to have  conversation. An iron tower some distance away had three large panels on it each with a different color—red, yellow, and green. Currently it was yellow. They were waiting for the red panel to flip and signal a magnetic storm. Their automatic launch systems wouldn’t work until they were out of the storm, but it would cover their take off long enough to shake CSO’s watchful eye.

The six pilots (Isabella _was_ technically a pilot even if she used a different skill to do so) waited in silence, preparing to launch at the very moment their chance presented itself. The space port put up its red warning and they all did their part. “Launch one,” Heero said into the com link, though the others could barely hear him over the interfering static. His blonde copilot watched nervously as their boosters kicked on, and they took off down the long runway, lifting off like an airplane but rising much quicker. Exactly three minutes later, Quatre and Duo followed. Three minutes after _them,_ Wufei and Trowa were bringing up the rear.

Their space-carriers were larger than the regular mobile suit carriers that the Maganac would use when the storm passed. They were not as confident as their Gundam companions were in their piloting skills and intuition, so the corps would launch as CSO repair transports to keep CSO from catching on.

Isabella, as she watched Heero expertly piloting their space craft, suddenly had a bit more respect for him and the others. She was fully aware that she would not have been able to do what they did.

And then she came to a terrible realization.

After they released the POWs from the Lunar Base, and after they know that their suits were now fully capable of use without CSO’s claws catching them, they would ditch her. If they didn’t kill, they would destroy her laptop and her work. But they would probably kill her so that her father couldn’t use her.

What she needed was protection, she thought and shifted awkwardly in her cushioned seat. Her calculating mind went right to work, developing a last minute plan.

They successfully reached their desired resource satellite, a relatively small, abandoned one that had been bought from Quatre’s family over a decade before. Now, it lazily hovered in the earth’s orbit, a short distance away from the moon, or more specifically, CSO’s Lunar Base. “Where’s Isabella?” Trowa suddenly spoke up, causing everyone around him to stop and look about. The pilots quickly realized that no one had seen her since they started unloading their ships and sending them to a nearby port to save room within the satellite. The young men immediately dropped the things they were holding—parts, tool boxes, inventory counts, swords (actually, Wufei did _not_ put that down, but carried it with him,) and took off in different directions.

Calling her name, they tried to look everywhere, even pulling some Maganac soldiers into the mix to look for her. Finally, Chang was the one to find her. “There you are you little…” He trailed off, angrily marching over to her. She was sitting behind a mobile suit, leaning against the metal with her laptop on her crossed legs. “You were told to stay within sight,” Wufei snapped, leaning forward and grabbing her shoulder roughly, “we’ve lost valuable time now because of you.”

“Sorry,” Isabella responded quickly, turning away completely from the young man. She reached for her bag and very quickly brought the back of her hands to her eyes. Chang very quickly realized that Isabella had been crying, and he stepped back awkwardly.

_Great,_ he thought to himself, _why did **I** have to be the one to find her?_ He turned slightly, scanning the area for Heero, or Duo, or, well, anyone else who could deal with the weak woman because he did not want to. Quatre caught sight of Wufei and quickly came to his aid.

“Oh, Miss Isabella,” Winner said comfortingly, “you don’t need to cry. I know our Chinese friend here is scary at times, but he won’t hurt you. He’s just not very good with people, especially girls.” He sat down next to the young woman, who laughed a little bit, causing him to smile.

“What!” Wufei shouted, looking rather angry again, “I did nothing! She was already weeping when I came over!”

“It’s not him, he doesn’t scare me,” Isabella quickly said, only causing Altron’s pilot to become even more aggravated. She turned her computer to show both men what was on the screen. A small window showed the streaming security video of one of CSO’s medical rooms.

“How did you—”

“They removed the security from this line,” she replied before they could finish. Her voice changed, showing how it was angering her, “they wanted me to see this.”

“What are we looking at?” Duo waltzed up with Heero, forming a group as they took either side of Wufei. The braided fool had been smiling brightly until his eyes landed on the screen. “I know that room.”

“No, you don’t,” Isabella said and shook her head, “it’s on the Lunar Base. It just looks like one of the medical rooms you had been in. It’s used primarily for neurosurgery.” Duo froze up for a moment then turned away without another word. He didn’t want those memories of his to resurface.

“That’s Edan,” Heero stated after a moment.

“They’ve reactivated her. I’ve been trying to break into her connection and change her orders but she won’t listen to me. She always has before. I don’t understand… unless I can physically connect to her like I did with Duo, her orders will stand and…” Her voice trailed off, though they knew what she was hinting at.

“And?” Wufei aked.

“And I know you will try to kill her. She doesn’t deserve that, the same way Duo didn’t deserve to be killed when he turned on you! She has to follow orders; she is not capable of stopping herself. Please, I’m begging you, if you could just get her to me and get her unconscious, I could reverse it and she could be a great ally!” The blonde woman turned to the guys, absolutely pleading with them.

“No,” stated Heero, “she’s too dangerous. We’ll kill her with the first chance we get.” He did not stand around to argue. Pilot 01 walked away to continue preparations.

“I’m sorry, Miss Isabella, but he’s right,” Quatre said sadly, his expression showing that he was also very upset, “if you can’t control her now, there’s just too much of a risk. Come on, let’s get you settled in, and—”

“Just leave me alone,” she snapped, quickly gathering her stuff, “you’re all being unreasonable. You have the capability of saving someone who needs to be saved.” She looked up at Wufei, who was thus far silent, “she needs help. How can you justify killing someone who has had their life, their will, their… everything taken from them to be forced to become an empty shell. You as soldiers should understand how wrong that is…” Holding her laptop to her tightly, she walked with her head down, looking for a new place to be alone.

“Mercy,” Quatre muttered, “killing that young woman, Edan, may be mercy on our part. There can’t be anything left to save within her.” He also went to return to work, leaving just the solitary dragon.

Wufei now had quite the dilemma on his hands. He, the warrior who always prided himself on fighting for justice, was not entirely sure what he should do. The others thought that they should kill Edan at their first opportunity, which was logical. However, he found he somewhat agreed with the blonde woman. It was _not_ justice to punish someone who could not stop herself from doing the things she may have considered wrong. If he were to avoid killing her at the expense of others though, that would also be the wrong thing to do.

Oh, and of course there was the fact that he did not agree entirely with the statement _there is nothing left inside of her._ He could recall, no matter how brief it had been, the slight flicker that had crossed her features during their match. She had become genuinely aggravated. As much as he wanted a chance to face her again, Wufei rather hoped a final decision as to whether she lived or died did not fall upon his shoulders.

_000_


	7. Verse VII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UPDATE NOTES: this story has been finished for a while but posted on other platforms. I am working on a bit of a sequel and decided that maybe I should update some of the chapters and continue posting on AO3. There was a rather dramatic writing shift starting around chapter twelve, so I’m back tracking a bit to clean up chapters 7 thru 11 since they’ve never been posted here. The first six chapters are ‘meh’ and I know that. If you’ve managed to get past those to this point, hopefully you’ll find the writing improved.
> 
> Those who are concerned about the introduction of two new women: this really isn’t a romance story. There may be some very vague elements, but I don’t really write romance! When I do, it’s a very long, drawn out process. I don’t throw to characters together and say, ‘now kiss!’ Unfortunately, fans of Ghost Hunt found that out if they read my story ‘Ciao Poveglia.’ Anyhow, the sequel is more of a romance… Kind of? I’m 57k words in, and it’s only hints of it. It also doesn’t involve Isabella. So there’s that.

"I did not alert Sally to our involvement," Heero said as he looked at a virtual layout of their battlefield. The pilots, as well as a few of the Maganac ranking soldiers, stood in a large conference room with the layout on a touch-sensitive table. "The more people who know about us, the greater the risk of being found out. I'm sure CSO and Adelphie are already aware of the rebel troops preparing for attack. However, we may be able to catch them off guard with our sudden surge. At least, that's the plan."

There were numerous nods of agreement throughout the room. Despite the overwhelming consensus, however, there were a few who did not care to keep their involvement quiet. Wufei, for one, looked as though he had a few words on the tip of his tongue. Regardless, he kept any would-be comments to himself and allowed the others to continue.

"Also," Quatre took Heero's brief pause as an opportunity to speak up, "we've been informed that, should one of the new model Gundams be sighted, and surely at least the red one will be in the field, you're advised to steer clear. Wait for one of us to arrive. Thankfully, it focuses on close range attacks, so it should be easy enough to avoid."

"He's right. Do not attempt to engage in one-on-one combat with Red Horse. Normal suit capabilities will not be enough to do severe damage, and you will only be heading for your own death. Understand?" Heero gave a hard look to a few of the soldiers who seemed to have eager glints in their eyes. "Prepare for battle. We leave at 1800." Their meeting concluded.

"You're concerned about something," Trowa murmured as the other soldiers cleared the room. "It's surprisingly not hard to tell."

"Just wondering how many of those men will try to be a hero and attack the red Gundam," Heero replied, shutting down the touch screen. Wufei quickly looked away, unwilling to participate in that particular conversation. "Red Horse will need to be a priority to keep casualties to a minimum."

000

"Sally!" A soldier called out, via com link to his commander, "we've underestimated the number of CSO troops. We're going to be almost immediately overwhelmed!"

They couldn't have been in battle for much more than a half hour, and already the rebel troops were starting to sweat from being in such a tight situation. "No," Po replied, "no, we didn't. They added more. They knew we were coming." She had suspected for some time that there was a rat within their group. This could only prove it. Using her laser gun, Sally, in her Aries suit, shot down two dolls by taking out their heads and control system. There were just too many. Waves and waves of CSO dolls seemed to come from just everywhere.

Just as she thought that it couldn't get worse, a high pitched, rapid beeping sound signaled the income of more targets. She turned around quickly, aiming at who she thought to be more enemy help.

"Sally!" A visual link appeared on her screen, showing Quatre's friendly face, "good to see that you've used our new programs well—"

"You mean my programs," the light, female voice butted in.

"Woman!" Wufei's com window also appeared on her screens, "stop tapping into our communication lines! Nice to see you, Po." The young man had worked with her for a short period of time as a Preventer, until they were disbanded by CSO. He considered Sally to be a friend.

"Uh, you too, Wufei," replied a confused Sally, "and who was that?"

"Just some annoying—"

"Me!" Isabella forced herself into Sally's system with an outside, distant communication link. "I was the one who developed all of the new system protection. Just taking credit where credit is due." The rebel woman was slightly taken aback by the sudden overflow of windows and faces staring at her.

"Wait, aren't you one of Adelphie's daughters? I've heard about you..."

"Actually, funny story about that…"

"Isabella," Heero's com now popped up, "get off the visual line and stop interrupting. You're here to help stop the dolls and guide us through the base. Do your job." The blonde young woman scowled, messed with her head piece and her image disappeared. "Sally, we'll help take out the dolls. Let us handle the break in. Isabella will walk us through while she's tapped into the camera systems to get us to the holding cells and release the prisoners. Can you secure the ships to get the POW's out on?"

"Will do," she replied with a smile, "it will be nice, working with professionals and all."

The five Gundam pilots entered into the battle with the Maganac crops, the field now evened out with a one-to-five ratio for all rebel soldiers. The odds were looking much better. "Okay, listen closely everyone," Isabella's voice sounded throughout the Gundams, both Sally and Rashid's mobile suits, and a few other key rebel members' suits. "CSO is preparing to send out the Red Horse through the number three gate. If you wait there, you should be able to force yourself in. Should you get in, you'll have to abandon your suits. I will lock down the area to keep more soldiers from coming in while you let your suits sit. It's the best plan of action I can see right now."

"Roger that," Heero replied and used his thrusters to push him past the other mobile dolls and suits. Sally and Quatre covered him, shooting down enemies that would have tried to get in his way. Trowa and Wufei also neared the gate that they were to be hijacking. For a few moments, they were practically swarmed by the dolls, but Altron's double ended trident sliced through a set of enemies, cleaving into the next closest one. It gave Heavy Arms enough room to open fire. The dolls started to disperse.

They believed it was because of their own onslaught at first, but quickly found that it was not the case. The gate was opening.

CSO cleared the way for one of its favored weapons. Wufei looked up on his monitor to see the Red Horse standing by, waiting for the doors to be fully opened so that she could enter the field. The coloring shined underneath the florescent lights of Lunar Base, once again reminding him, and all others, of the resemblance to Treize's Epyon. After taking a step forward, the enemy Gundam launched up, going after the first rebel in her sights—that rebel being Trowa.

His firepower momentarily kept her at a distance, but that was about it. It was not meant to stand up against Gundanium alloy, as many of their weapons were not. Heero's beam cannon could, of course, and that was the extent of useful weapons. Unless they could cut off power to the central control unit, which was most likely the head like the rest of their suits, it was going to be a very physical battle. "Heero, go on ahead, I'll keep her busy," Trowa called out over the com through slightly gritted teeth. Wing Zero went through the gate before they could close it.

Wufei cut down more Dolls, watching the Red Horse draw a sword from her back and take a swing. Trowa would have been hit, had Wufei not pushed him out of the way to block with his thermal weapon. "Trowa," he snapped, "I will handle this. Your suit is not ideal for hand-to-hand combat as Nataku. I also have already had experience against this pilot, at the very least." Truthfully, Heavy Arms's pilot also agreed. Quatre's suit used similar heat blades, and he knew how his suit faired in those sorts of battles. He did not wait to shoot off after Wing Zero.

"Hey!" Duo's voice rang out, "don't take all the fun! Po and I are coming!" Heavy Arms landed in the open gate and stood in between the panels threatening to close them out. He wouldn't let it shut before Deathscythe and Po's Aries were within the hanger. Heero was within, already causing immense chaos to the guards. They tried to get to mobile suits, but Heero crushed the controls of the other giant robots. The last two of the rebels entered into the spacious facility, allowing the gates to slam shut. The chamber pressurized, oxygen filled the room, and the pilots left their cockpits.

"I'll boot up the shuttles," Sally said, "but what if Zechs or Noin are unable to pilot them? I have to get back to the battle."

"Don't worry," replied Duo, pulling out a disk from his jacket pocket, "we've got that covered. Just load this into the secondary control system, and the autopilot will kick in like never before." He handed it over with a laugh.

"Autopilot? On the battle field? Are you insane?" Sally asked in bewilderment.

"Isabella can remote pilot them from her safe position on the satellite, almost as well as any of us could do. Don't worry." Duo waved and took off running with the other pilots.

The pilots knocked out a few guards and took control of their weapons. They had to make their way towards the center of the base, through gunfire and tear gas. "We can't get through!" Duo shouted, unloading a clip through the chemically charged smoke, and coughing into his shoulder.

"Here," Trowa called out, "there's a door here, and I think it's a conference room. I see another door, and it may lead to another hallway."

"And if not?" Wing Zero's pilot asked.

"Then I guess we'll be finding some quick alternative." Another canister of tear gas was thrown their way. Duo covered his mouth and kicked it roughly, like a soccer ball into a goal. Without wasting more time, they went into the conference room. There was a surprise waiting for them. "I swear, she wasn't here a minute ago," Trowa said, his monotone voice revealing his bafflement. Sitting in a chair at one of the elegantly carved tables was a dark haired woman in a dress suit. She was looking down at nothing, and a pen wrote on the desk. She looked up at the guns pointed at her.

"It would be useless to shoot me," she commented with a sigh, placing the pen down. It disappeared. Her 'voice' seemed to be coming from a speaker hooked up for surround sound. Duo stepped forward and reached his hand out. It went right through her the woman. "My father has placed me as head of research and development. This is simply one of my early hologram designs. I would have used a more sophisticated version, but how could I know which room you would possibly stumble into?"

"You're Moira," Heero stated, lowering his gun and scanning the room for possible dangers. There didn't seem to be any hidden weapons or explosives, or anything of the sort. There was just a projector system at work, creating a realistic image of Adelphie's eldest daughter.

"Why, yes, Heero Yuy, I am. Now," she said and sat back slightly, "I'm about to take a page from my sister's book and aid you. Before you ask, my answer is simply that I have my reasons. However, I have no intention of having you whisk me away as my saviors. The door to my left is unlocked. Go through that corridor. It is used as my father's personal entrance. It will take you through towards the eastern wing. Go right, move about three hundred yards, and then go left. You will have to take out some guards, but I assume that won't be a problem for you, now that you know they are there. A hand print and code are required to open the doors leading to the prisoner wing. I'm assuming that my sister already programmed in one of your prints?"

The pilots looked at one another but did not answer.

"Ah, good, she has. What you don't know is that my father's technicians changed the code. Whenever you enter Isabella's bypass code, it will let you in, but lock behind you and start to cut off oxygen to the prisoners. So, I suggest you don't use her code," said the electronic sounding Moira.

"So you expect us to trust you?" Heero asked, quite seriously, of course.

A dark smile crossed the young woman's beautiful features. "Mr. Barton," she called out, "when you invaded my father's home, you were caught by Vince deBordaris, if you recall. He checked out your name, David King, to find that your forms had been faked. Most would not know this, but he used a skill similar to that of my half-sister to hook up to the system. The application was different. Now, if you'll also recall, he told you at the party that he checked you out, but made no motion to expose you. That is because he works for me first and my father second, much like Edan does for Isabella. I told him to ignore what he found. It is because of me, therefore, that you were able to retrieve my half sister and flee with her."

"Because you have your reasons?" Duo snorted in utter disbelief.

She folded her hands neatly. "Quite. This is for my own merit. Seven-two-four-three-eight-five. That is the access code for the next hour and…" she paused to look off to the side at something that they could not see, "thirteen minutes. Do get a move on it." The hologram image flickered and then shut off, leaving the three pilots with a decision.

"I hate relying on these shady women," muttered Duo, who put his palm to his forehead.

"Wufei would agree with you," replied Trowa.

"Do we go back out to the soldiers who know we're here, or do we walk into what could very well be a trap?" Heero put his head to the secured door, listening to the voices of soldiers in the hallway. There was a loud bag on the door, causing him to back up, immediately pointing the gun at the door. Two more bangs. The three pilots went for the door Adelphie's eldest had mentioned.

Duo kicked it open, and Trowa cleared the corridor, entering first. There were yellow lights blinking along the bottom of the hallway in sync with the emergency single sounding. "Probably needs a key to turn on the main lights if this is supposed to be used just by Adelphie." The other pilots agreed. They cautiously trekked down through the dimly lit area until they reached the end of the lights. Since Trowa was in the lead, he felt around for the door, and then shoved it open. Heero checked first this time, only to find it desolate.

"They probably expected to cut us off before here," Duo offered.

"Or it's a trap," replied Heero. They turned right anyhow, running down the hallway. Their boots thumped with each of their long strides. They only had to knock out a set of CSO soldiers along the way, until they reached the turn off to the prisoner wing. They turned left without hesitation shooting the four dark uniformed soldiers. They were heavily armed. It was easier for them to overcome them with Moira's warning. Heero walked past the fallen bodies and spotted the scan pad for a handprint. Firmly pressing his hand in the center, a green light blinked, telling him then to input a password.

"Seven-two-four-three-eight-give," Trowa said, "if you want to go by Moira's word."

They paused for a moment. Heero pressed the six digit password rather than Isabella's ten digit. They held their breath while waiting for the door to open. It did, and as far as they could tell, the air was still running fine. There were a total of six cells—one with Noin, one with Zechs, and the other four were larger cells filled with almost twenty captives a piece. It would be just enough for two escape shuttles. Wing Zero's pilot went back and forth, opening doors for Duo and Trowa to help out the captives. They reached the female pilot, who looked like she was suffering from extreme vitamin D deficiency. Zechs had bruises all of his body, leading them to believe that the guards had probably beaten him numerous times. They had to carefully pull him out and lean him against Trowa. Noin hugged him before they started moving.

"We haven't actually seen each other in months. I haven't left my _cell_ in months," she muttered bitterly. Out they went, the doors easily opening for them. Moira was right, or at least she wasn't wrong. What if Isabella's code had really locked them in? Had she known and done it on purpose? Was she untrustworthy? It had not been the first time that thought had crossed their minds.

000

Wufei's thermal weapon clashed with one of Red Horse's swords, then again, and again. She drew her second sword. He continued to fight with her, trying to lure her away from the battle so that she could not attack any of the rebel suits. He would protect those who needed protected.

Though they continued their one on one battle, her attention wandering every so often to those around them. Though Wufei had thought he had an idea of what to expect, they were going at it longer and more intensely than they had the last time they face each other. He was fine for the moment, but unlike the modified woman, even he had his limits. Additionally, it seemed that she was just as proficient with her dual blades in Red Horse as she was out of it.

"Come on!" Wufei shouted despite the fact they did not have an established communication link. "Pay attention! It's not worth it if you aren't giving it your all!" He raised his left arm and sent his dragon rocketing into her, pushing her backwards. With a swipe of his trident, he left two scars across the door of the cockpit. It angered her enough for her to push forward, diving into his suit and causing him to get shaken around roughly.

000

"Red Horse," Adelphie appeared on the left most monitor of Edan's cockpit screens. He was visibly angry, and the soldiers behind him appeared tense. "Stop fooling around with that Gundam and get to the resource satellite they're based off of. Blow it up with the charges as directed and only then return to the battle. Understood?” The silent young woman gave one simple nod and their link was disconnected. When Altron withdrew enough for him to try to make a strike with his dragon-like arm attachment, Red Horse jetted back quickly, making a break from him.

Once she set off, he followed, but had little chance of catching her. She maneuvered through with the intent of putting as many other dolls and suits between them. Since all of the Maganac and now other rebels had received the command to steer clear of the red Gundam, no one tried to stop her. All of CSO's dolls, however, attacked Altron every chance they had.

"Wufei, what's going on?" Quatre's voice could be heard over their communication line, much to Wufei's dismay.

He frowned. "She has some sort of plan, I'm sure of it," Wufei answered, "she's just fled from our battle and she's not even trying to attack any other rebels." He fought off two of the metallic, black dolls that tried to attack him, throwing one of the fallen into the side of another that was too preoccupied with two suits that were attacking it.

"I'll clear a path for you—you have to try to stop her. My sickles won't be able to defend against swords very well," replied Quatre. He started cutting through as many dolls as he could, as did many of the Maganac who had also received the transmission. They were clearing the way for Wufei, who, despite his disdain for help, took advantage of the opening and shot through. Red Horse had really sped through, however, and she was some distance ahead, reaching the resource satellite in only about eight minutes. When Wufei arrived, she was already unloading charges that had been stored along the suit's back.

He angled himself at a specific position then jetted at his opponent, knocking her away from the satellite. Her swords were not drawn, and she made no motion to try to retrieve them. She made no motion to do… anything offensive at all. After Red Horse's balance was regained she dodged him and went back to the satellite, dropping yet another charge while Wufei attempted to catch her. He brought his thermal weapon down on her, but she threw her arm up, trying to keep it from hitting her. Slowly, it slid down, the green of the thermal laser nearing the metallic head of her Gundam. Red Horse retrieved another charge and made to attach it to the torso of Altron.

"Damn it!" Wufei backed up quickly, knowing that if the explosive was attached, he would have to try to tear it off before she detonated it. Once again, she escaped, dropping a total of two more charges. They would be enough to cause internal explosions and destroy the satellite. "Don't you know that the damned Adelphie woman is in there?!"

Of course, Edan could not hear him; they had no communication line established. Isabella, on the other hand, who had been trying to hack into CSO's lines, managed to get one up and running. Without her suit, her automatic shutdown to Red Horse was useless. Revolving White Horses appeared on all of CSO's monitors (officially confirming to Adelphie that his daughter was working with the rebels) and on Red Horse's monitors. Isabella knew that since Edan was plugged directly into her suit, she did not need to see the monitors to see—she could directly view the suit's outer cameras through the custom headpiece she wore, much like Isabella's.

"Edan, stop," the blonde said sternly as her mindlessly controlled friend withdrew the detonator for the charges. "Edan! Please stop! I'm in here! You'll kill me! I know you can fight this!" Red Horse was once again escaping the scene before Wufei could get hold of her… "Edan, NO!" Isabella shrieked, catching not only Wufei's attention, but Quatre's and Rashid's and anyone else who happened to be on that frequency. Red Horse turned around, ready to hit the switch. "Oh, God," Isabella whispered and squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for the consecutive explosions.

They did not come.

"Isabella," Wufei said, "she's dropped the detonator."

Within Red Horse, what they could not see was that at the last moment Edan released her hands from the controls and placed them to her head in pain. Following that, she yanked the connection from her suit into the implant, biting into her lip as one would have if he or she were trying not to scream. She jerked around, almost as though she were having a mini seizure. Gasping for air, Edan settled down, draped across her pilot's seat awkward and limp. Her dead looking eyes gazed straight ahead. Red Horse slowly floated through space, incapable of moving without its pilot.

Isabella, breathing deeply, opened her eyes and looked at the monitors. "Wufei, she's unconscious," she said slowly, "if you can bring her to me, I can help her, and she can help us. Please?" The blonde was relatively glad that Wufei was the one near Edan. If any other pilots found her… they might have been inclined to kill her. But not Wufei—he would never kill an unarmed opponent. He shouted and ranted and raved. He didn't want to risk it; he wanted to get back to the battle. "Wufei, please."

"Damn it, woman!" Altron cautiously neared the metallic red suit. Isabella couldn't hear him mutter, "I'm going to regret this." When Red Horse made no motion to try to ward him off, he latched onto the other Gundam. "I'm bringing her in." Carefully maneuvering the two suits to the resource satellite, he waited until Isabella opened the loading dock to make his way inside.

"She can't move. You're going to have to dock, and then get her from the cockpit with the code I give you," the blonde stated over the communication link. "The more you argue with me, the longer it will take for you to get back to the battle." Wufei had been preparing to refuse the directions, but the scholar side of him told him to make the best use of his time. The gates shut, and enough gravity was in effect to keep the suits on the floor, but have his fragile human body glide through the air.

"Seven-one-eight-four-zero-eight." Isabella's voice echoed over the satellite's intercom.

"I don't see—"

"Press down on the panel that's about eight and a half by eight inches with your entire hand, and then remove it."

Wufei, grasping part of Red Horse, looked around the cockpit outside for the panel. He spotted it and pressed it, waiting for it to slide up. When it did, it revealed a keypad for him to input a six digit code. He did so and quickly pushed off of the Gundam to avoid getting hit by the opening of the cockpit doors. Grabbing the edge of the opening, he used it to swing himself to the entrance. He was slightly in awe as the sophisticated controls and spacious interior designed pilot's section. "She looks…dead." Although that wasn't exactly much worse from her usual appearance.

"She's not—she… can't be. Just bring her to me," said the disembodied voice of Isabella.

Wufei frowned and inched forward, first reaching out and then snatching Edan's wrist. Checking for a pulse, he did, in fact, find her to be alive after all. He unclasped the straps that secured her in place, disliking how close he was to the woman who had humiliated him in front of so many enemy soldiers, and pulled her out. She was like a rag doll in his arms. He carried her in front of him so that he supported her head and neck, guiding both of them down to the doors that led towards Isabella's station. Once inside the next corridor, the gravity was simulated to be a bit closer to Earth's, forcing him to walk. The young woman in his arms now had some weight to her.

"What do you want me to do with her?" Wufei entered into the control chamber, eager to rid himself of the female.

"Here, in this chair," replied Isabella. She adjusted one of the seats, leaning it back as far as it would go, and tapping it to direct him. He placed Edan down in the seat. "She's not supposed to disobey direct orders. This is what happens when she does, when she manages to fight it at all. You don't have to wait. If you want to go back to the battle, go. I can handle her now."

"I just don't trust you."

"Yes, I know that," Isabella snapped, moving around quickly to hook up different cords both to her computer and to Edan, "even though I've never given you a reason not to trust me. I've done everything I can do to help the rebels, short of walking up to my father and sister and opening fire! This is not some scheme to destroy you from the inside out. Edan's practically the only friend I ever had growing up, and it was because both of us went through neuro enhancement. I just want to help someone who has always been there for me—she's closer to my sister than my actual sister is. She's a better parent to me than my father ever has been. Can't you understand?"

Wufei did not respond. He looked at the pathetic looking young woman who lay as still as a corpse on the now reclining seat, then he turned away with a simple _hmm_. He would rejoin the battle.

Isabella exhaled to try to calm down, knowing that it was not wise for her to be delving around in Edan's mind while angry. She sat down at the seat where her laptop was set up in a work station and then plugged into the system herself. Her skilled hands went to work, reversing commands and disabling parts of the chips that forced Edan to focus on achieving her task. It was hard work—so much of the poor young woman's mind was broken up with tiny chips that she had to rework much of the computerized thought processes so that Edan's mind wouldn't just… stop working.

By the time she finished, the battle near CSO's Lunar Base seemed to start to come to a close.

Noin was sitting in the pilot's seat of the second shuttle, on standby, just in case Isabella's software for her remote piloting failed. The former lieutenant did not like leaving their safety to such technological means, but was too weak to even consider being the primary pilot. The Gundam pilots were booting up their systems and the gates were being reopened by Isabella. "Lieutenant Noin, I'll be your pilot today," her voice was overly cheerful for the situation, reminding Noin very much of Duo, "so just sit back and try to relax."

Yeah. Relax. That was basically impossible.

Sally was in the lead, the three Gundams preparing to guard her and Noin.

CSO's dolls immediately turned their attention on the captives. Apparently, Adelphie had decided that he'd rather have the shuttles shot down than let them escape. Trowa was forced to break away first, staying behind to fight off a group of dolls that was trying to sneak up on them. Duo had to separate next, two that had run out of energy shots came at him from two sides, trying to cause an explosion that would cause damage to the Gundam. Heero was having a hard time keeping all of the enemies away from the front.

"Heero, I see an opening, I'm going to make a break for it—" Sally shouted, but did not wait for an answer. Shuttle two followed into an area now filled with remnants of dolls and mobile suits, and was eerily empty of 'live' attackers. They were just outside of the battlefield, so Sally did not particularly find it unusual for a doll cemetery to form. It often happened in a battle that involved the Gundams. Heero was still attempting to cover the shuttles as best as he could, but it was difficult for Isabella, who was not able to see everything in the same way as Po.

Noin sat tensely, watching the large parts narrowly avoid their shuttle. "Hey," said Noin, hoping Isabella could hear her, "hey, you've got to fall back some. We aren't going to be able to avoid that half doll coming from the upper left." Silence. She did not get a response. "Hey! Can't you hear me?!"

"We're fine, don't worry," responded Isabella, her voice coming through the link with some static.

"You're going to get us killed!" Noin sat up and tried to take control of the shuttle. None of the commands responded to her. "Traitor! Whoever you are, you're doing this on purpose, aren't you? You want us dead, just like Adelphie!"

"You are incorrect; I'm not anything like my father." The blonde's voice was icy, clearly aggravated with Noin. The torso of a doll closed in on them, en route to a collision. The former lieutenant continued to frantically try to take control and save them. Her eyes widened and…

And the doll was sliced in half, sending the one half below the shuttle and the other above. The metallic Red Gundam was seen by Noin. "There's an enemy here!"

"She just saved your skins," replied the voice over the link. "Red Horse is going into battle on our side now—pretty convenient since the mass CSO doll system has her in as an ally, which keeps her from being targeted."

Noin watched as the one time enemy Gundam went above their shuttle and to the nearest doll following behind them.

000

"Duo, behind you!" Heavy Arms spotted the Red Horse nearing Deathscythe.

Duo turned around, only to see what they thought to be an enemy cut down two CSO suits with her dual swords. "I don't understand."

"Isabella must have successfully released Red Horse's pilot from CSO's control," Wufei stated through gritted teeth. He was a bit preoccupied with his own struggle. The Gundams were trying to handle as many dolls as they could so that they could keep the rebel-to-doll ratio in their favor. It was tiring.

"Is that why you took Red Horse to the satellite, Wufei?" Quatre asked, smiling a bit to himself. "Strange to think that you, out of all of us, were the one to have enough compassion to take that risk and try to save her, rather than simply eliminating the problem." Sandrock neared Lunar Base, deciding to aid some of his Maganac men. They were having some issues with the mass amounts of dolls.

"This is not the time to discuss the matter!" shouted Wufei, who added at the end, "it was only justice…"

Red Horse continued making her way through the field, aiding whoever seemed to need it. Eventually, she found her final position near Wufei. The two were swarmed, though she was remaining un-attacked. Wufei did not particularly like the fact that the woman had chosen to stop by him, but there wasn't much he could do about it anyhow.

000

"Damn it!" Adelphie shouted and threw his now empty coffee mug, shattering it into a million little pieces. "Why hasn't Red Horse blown up the satellite?! Why is she attacking our troops?!" The Prime Minister was on the bridge, pacing back and forth. He did not like the turn in events.

"We are unsure, sir," said the scientist-soldier who had taken over the input of Edan's commands after Isabella had vanished.

"Sir, bad news," another solider spoke up.

"Bad news?" Adelphie said, "two of my most expensive and important projects have gone rogue. How much worse can it possibly get?"

"Gate four is opening, sir. None of us granted permission." What that meant was that Isabella was remote accessing their systems and sending her Gundam to her aid. Everything was going to hell.

No matter how hard CSO soldiers tried, they were going to fail—Isabella had successfully landed her shuttle, and was easily moving White Horse to the resource satellite. Not only would there be five rebel Gundams, but the two CSO Gundams would also be joining with them.

"Send orders to boot up the main beam cannon. We'll just wipe out the majority of the rebel troops, even if we have to sacrifice some of our own force," Adelphie demanded. He was avoiding the use of the powerful weapon to keep the numbers of dolls filled, but not it seemed as though he had little choice if he wanted to deal any real amount of damage.

"Yes, sir."

000

"I'm going back out," Sally stated, "there are wounded out there. I've got to go get them."

"It's too risky," Isabella shouted over the satellite's intercom. "You won't be able to attack if you're carrying people back!" The soldier disregarded the hacker's warning and activated another spare mobile suit. She wasted no time in leaving through the open hatch.

Po burst as far as she felt comfortable, passing many in need of rescue, then picking up a handful (quite literally) and returning to the satellite. After a quick drop off, she returned to the battlefield.

Edan focused her attacks on the masses that swarmed Altron (he had worked his way up relatively close to Lunar Base, so he was seen as one of the most immediate threats). An alert came up on one of her screens, since she was still technically hooked up into CSO's system, telling her that the beam cannons were being prepped. She reached out, pressed a few buttons, and linked herself into the other Gundams. _"Region three beam cannons have been activated. It is advised that you scatter."_ Her alterations allowed her to transmit basic thoughts into text. Clearly, this only proved how advanced CSO's systems had truly become. Red Horse's pilot's image appeared on their monitors, the sentences forming in a window next to it.

The pilots looked slightly in disbelief, but started relaying the information. "Everyone!" Quatre shouted, getting the attention of the rebels, "clear the area! Beam cannons are preparing to be fired. You have to get away from anywhere that might be hit by the region three!" The commands' effects were almost instantaneous. Rebels located the spoke-of-region and moved their battles a safe distance away. At least, those who could move did. In almost the dead center, there was a suit unable to move due to vitally damaged thrusters.

Lights could be seen, signaling only moments until the base weapon was fired.

The blonde pilot spotted the injured suit and couldn't bring himself to leave the rebel behind. Sandrock changed directions, going back to the stranded Aries. "Don't worry, I've got you," reassured Quatre, "I'll pull you out of the way."

Sally continued to make her saving runs as well, though some distance behind Quatre.

Edan cleared the way, but saw Sandrock's return to the danger zone.

Sandrock pulled the suit as fast as he could, but it he wasn't as fast as he would have been, had he not been using his power to move both his and the other suit.

The beam cannon was fired, wiping out a few dolls that were close by, then proceeding onwards.

Quatre and the rescued suit most likely wouldn't have made it, had Red Horse not used every last bit of power she could to push past her limits and ram into Sandrock. The group of three jerked forward. Pilot 04 was mostly unharmed and the rescued pilot was also safe. Edan was alive and well, but most of Red Horse's lower half had been destroyed upon the beam's contact.

She fared better than Sally Po. She was caught in the beam cannon's line, as were two rebels with her—one Maganac and one of her own men.

"Sally!" Quatre totally disregarded his narrow escape from death to cry over hers.

It took a few moments for the rubble to clear, but in the end, it was just that. There was only rubble. Anything that had been in the line of fire was no more. The mobile suits were obliterated.

Quatre quickly scanned the area, visually and through his radar, but there was nothing. There were no survivors. He dropped his head into his hands, grasping at a handful of his hair. "No, Sally…"

"Return to the satellite," Heero shouted over their communication line, "CSO's getting desperate. The battle is not in our favor when they turn to—"

"—dishonorable battle tactics," Wufei finished through gritted teeth. He, who had worked with Po as a preventer for so long, was easily the most upset. When he had seen that she was not going to make it, he had tried to turn back to pull her from the line of fire. He had been too far away, in the end.

"But—but—"

"Quatre, we need to leave the battlefield," Trowa said, "they'll fire up the other cannons. We'll only lose more soldiers. We have all of the POW's."

The blonde squeezed his eyes shut, a few tears slipping into the zero gravity air. "Of course, you're right," he responded, exhaling. "Wufei, will you help me drag Red Horse back?"

"Do what—?"

"She saved my life. I can't possibly leave her behind now." Sandrock, with one arm already grasping the Aries suit and the other with the arm of Red Horse, went in the direction of the resource satellite. After a few moments, Altron glided up next to Edan's Gundam, taking her other arm.

The troops retreated as quickly as they could. Adelphie did not want to lose more of his dolls, apparently. Of course, the revels were bitter that they had lost their comrades while he only lost some resources. Thirty-two hours after the battle, the forces were split up among small colonies some distance away from any enemy bases. They needed time to make repairs and decide their next plan of attack.

000

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I apologize to Sally Fans, but not everyone is going to make it out of this story alive. Of course she was a good pilot, but she was not like the gundam pilots—or Zech or Noin, for that matter. She was a doctor, first and foremost. In this piece, she used her experience as a Preventer and forever-rebel to lead forces. However, her kind hearted nature and desire to save others got the best of her.
> 
> Well, at least Zechs and Noin have been saved, right? Though they are very weak, if that was not clear. CSO did what they could to keep their POWs from ever rising up against them.
> 
> Always your obedient servant,  
> A.F


	8. Verse VIII

After Colony: Revelation

Verse VIII

"We knew what the risks were," Heero said, his arms crossed against his chest as he leaned against the all, "it could have been any one of us." He and the other four Gundam pilots were collected in a conference room in the colony they were using as their main base for the time being. The colony was filled with very non-threatening people—musicians, artists, writers… as long as they did not try to do anything politically charged, Adelphie couldn't have cared less with whatever they did.

"I know, but—ah…" Quatre's eyes were cast downwards, brows furrowed. Sally's death was severely affecting him. It wasn't as though he didn't get upset over the deaths of other soldiers, because he did. He hated death. However, now it was more personal, since Po had been such a longtime friend of theirs. There were a few moments of silence before anyone else chose to speak up.

"She would have wanted us to keep fighting. We have no choice but to see this through until the end," stated Wufei. He had been relatively quiet since their retreat. "The watch posts have been filled. I'm going to get some sleep."

They all faced death every day. Some days… Some days were harder than others. Though Quatre had a legion of men whom he knew well, the others had deliberately made efforts to keep themselves as detached as possible. Sally had been one of those people who had integrated herself into their lives, whether they wanted her there or not.

For those who knew her best—Wufei and Noin being among them—Sally was a shining star. She dedicated her life to helping people in whatever way she could. Though it was devastating to see her go so young, no one could say that they were surprised. Sally died saving other people. It was likely what she had always planned.

000

"You're psychotic!" Duo sprinted out from a room some floors below the conference area. The pilots and a handful of other key rebel leaders had taken up residence in a small hotel used primarily for business. A metal envelope opener barely missed Duo's head. Duo  ducked down behind Wufei, using him as his personal shield. "Oh, good, you're here. You saved her: you go deal with her!" He stood up and gave the other pilot a push into the doorway.

Wufei shot Duo a  _don't-touch-me-or-I'll-use-that-envelope-cutter-myself_  kind of look before cautiously entering the room. What he saw was Isabella, with one hand on her hip and the other shaking at Edan, scolding the young woman. The brunette had her arms crossed across her chest, rolling her eyes, if ever so slightly. "—really, Edan, you shouldn't have done that! He was only doing what he was told. You have to listen! We're working with  _them_  now!"

Edan did not seem to hear her after a certain point. Instead, she immediately turned her head to watch Wufei as he entered. In an instant she had closed the space between herself and Isabella. Wufei assumed that this Edan woman still considered Isabella to be her ward, since she stood in front of her so protectively.

"Woman," he spoke to the blonde, "you assured us that you could control her."

"Oh, yeah, yeah," Isabella waved casually, "that's not the problem."

"Then what is?"

Isabella shrugged, "Edan just feels she must protect me. She has worked closely, almost as a bodyguard, with my family for years. That just hasn't changed much… Duo grabbed my wrist to pull me out of the room, and naturally, Edan reacted."

Wufei looked at the two, as if to quickly survey the situation. From what little he knew about the silent woman, he could see the logic in the matter. "Maxwell," he called to the pilot who was peering in from a safe distance away, "why were you here?"

"Oh, well," Duo straightened up slightly from his hunched, spying position, "Heero told me to put that one—" he pointed to Edan, "—in a room and lock the door. She can creep around so quietly that we don't notice when she's close by. Obviously, we don't want her spying while we're figuring out what to do next…"

Isabella scowled and folded her arms angrily. "She's on our side, you know," she snapped drawing out the last word. "Why don't you believe me?"

"Because we don't trust you," Wufei replied dryly, "give me the key to the room she's supposed to get locked into." Duo complied, passing it off and ridding himself of the burden that was dealing with the woman. Wufei looked at the number carved into the key and then turned around. "You, Edan, come with me. Now." He couldn't see it, but the dark haired woman looked to her friend, who smiled at her nodded. Shoulders falling, Edan walked out after Wufei.

Duo watched in surprise as she simply… followed out without a fight. "That was much easier than I expected. Why didn't she just leave when I asked her to?"

"She's more likely to follow an order than a request," Isabella sighed and went to the desk where her laptop was. The room was very open and rather sparsely decorated. The windows were wide open, letting in a nice, colony-generated breeze. "Plus she doesn't have as much respect for you as I'm guessing she does for him."

"What? Why not?! What has he done to deserve respect that I haven't? I'm the one who is most... like… her…" Duo frowned. He realized that he didn't much like the way that sounded. He didn't want to be like the mindless young woman codenamed War: forced to obey CSO's commands and having very little say over his life.

"She's faced him in a match, and even though she won, she was more… lively than I've seen her for some time. He sparked something that few others have ever managed to do. The first time she showed up in her Gundam, he could have killed her when I forced a shut down on her, but he spared her. Then there's the fact that he was the one to decide to bring her to me and let me help her instead of destroying her. Think about it. Basically… he saved her. Ooh! These look good!" Isabella picked up an apple that sat in a glass bowl on her desk. It had been refilled when the only worker left in the building came to take the coffee machine that Isabella had stolen back to the kitchens.

While she sat on the edge of the desk, munching on it happily, Duo couldn't help but think of how casually Isabella seemed to speak of Edan's plight—she might as well have been talking about the weather, rather than someone else's life. Duo gazed off with a slightly furrowed brow, nodding a bit. "Yeah… I guess that makes sense…"

000

"How are you two holding up?" Trowa walked into the hotel's large, multipurpose room where the colony's doctors were working as best they could with the rebel medics. Zechs and Noin were side by side on two cots that had been set up for temporary care.

"We've had better times," the blonde male groaned, throwing an arm over his eyes.

Noin glanced over and Zechs before forcing herself to sit up. "We weren't sure if you'd be coming. It's been hard, not knowing what's going on in the outside world. All we knew when we were caught was that you still hadn't come up with any systems that could hold up against CSO. How did you do it?" She brushed some strands of dark hair out from her eyes. She needed a haircut, in her opinion.

"Well," Trowa started, sitting down next to the woman, "we managed to create a temporary block, just long enough to rescue Wufei and Duo. After…it took outside help." Heavy Arm's pilot was unsure of how the situation would go when he told two long time captives of Adelphie that his daughter was helping them.

"Does it have to do with that girl who was piloting my shuttle?" Noin asked, looking at the male pilot intently. He nodded after a moment. "I thought so. She called Adelphie her father."

"Her name is Isabella. She's his lesser known daughter, with her mother's last name," Zechs responded from his cot in front of Noin and Trowa.

"You know her?" Noin was completely surprised, so much so that she stumbled over her words, started coughing, and then had to hurry and take a drink from her water bottle. Both she and Zechs had two bottles lying haphazardly on their makeshift beds.

"Came across her almost… well, probably about seven years ago. Adelphie was developing projects for OZ before they actually took over. Treize had me go inspect the lab, mostly, I think, because he thought Adelphie was violating their contract. Excessive human testing was forbidden, but he was probably doing it anyhow," the former OZ Colonel stated dully. He did not move his arm from his eyes.

"… Maybe I should get Isabella to tell you more on that," Trowa replied.

"So they did do human testing," Zechs muttered.

"Most definitely."

000

In a matter of seven days, two artists had created a memorial for all of the lives that had been lost in the battle. Painted on metal from doll parts and Mobile Suit parts were scenes from their battle. Across the front, it read Forever In Our Hearts: Our Friends And Comrades. Lists of names were in the process of being carved into the back. That would take more time, however. Dr. Sally Po received the first slot.

Soldiers were in their uniforms, heads bowed and hats off. Some were sobbing.

Those who did not have official uniforms were dressed in black—most were rebels with no military affiliation, the Gundam pilots, Isabella… Edan was wearing a black, woman's pant suit, courtesy of Quatre. She had her red, CSO uniform with her, but they weren't stupid enough to have her wear it in front of so many vengeful soldiers.

As rebel leader Sally Po was remembered, Noin, Zechs, and Wufei all went to the front. They were the Preventers who knew her best. Noin was the one to give a speech.

The funeral and memorial session was a depressing matter. It caused many to question if they should continue their fight—since the battle had deviated so far from their original plan. But Noin stepped into Sally's position and reassured the soldiers that they still had the capability and the drive to take down Adelphie's forces, and they owed it to those who died believing in their cause to continue.

Everyone went their separate ways, wanting to spend time with their families if they could. Isabella walked towards the hotel, with Edan trailing after her. The blonde looked as though she had much on her mind, while the brunette looked as though she didn't think a damned thing.

"Excuse me," Quatre called out from behind them, causing the women to turn around, "Isabella, I was wondering if I could borrow Miss Edan." Quatre smiled softly, showing his sincerity. "Some of the Maganac and I are going to go eat. I was hoping she would join us."

Edan looked at Isabella, showing emotion for possibly the first time in front of Quatre. Her expression was a mix of bewilderment, shock, and distrust. The other young woman simply laughed.

"Go," Isabella waved, "go on. Be nice." When Edan didn't move, she was pushed. The blonde turned around, waving goodbye to the group, her friend staring at her while they walked away.

Edan and Quatre rejoined Rashid and a few other of his Maganac comrades. They were all wary of the female, but tried their best to hide it. "I owe you my life," stated Quatre as they headed to a nearby restaurant. "You're lucky your entire suit didn't blow. You could've died in my place." His comrades glanced at Edan as if she was horribly disfigured and they didn't want to get caught looking at her. "So, thank you."

Obviously, she did not answer. Quatre, however, got the strange feeling that she was embarrassed by this gratitude.

"I must ask, Miss Edan, how do you communicate with others if you do not speak to them?" Quatre was absolutely set on lightening up the atmosphere. The funeral was incredibly depressing, but also led him to believe that there was plenty for which to be thankful.

New friends were one of those things.

He looked at her for a few moments, and she only stared back. Though her emotionless, dead looking eyes were unnerving to…everyone… Quatre had to admit that they weren't too far from Heero's eyes at times.

She looked away quickly and shrugged, shaking her head.

"Master Quatre," Rashid coughed, interrupting the strange exchange, "our reservations are ready and we can take out seats." Quatre led the way, Edan behind him, and Rashid behind her (he could tell that the petite woman was tensing up from feeling so unguarded).

The group sat, Quatre insisting that she sat at his right, and immediately started chatting. The Maganac spoke in Arabic to one another, discussing what they knew about the woman at their table. The Gundam pilot spoke in English, though he occasionally switched to Italian which was Adelphie's native tongue, out of his own curiosity. Then, even more.

"Ich habe gehört, Sie wuchs mit Fräulein Isabella, ist das wahr?"

-" _So I heard you grew up with Miss Isabella, is that true?"_

He received a nod.

"Vous êtes comme un tuteur pour lui?"

-" _You are like a guardian to her?"_

Another nod. He continued the conversation, becoming more and more intrigued as he went.

"Kanojo no kokori ni, ane de gozaimasu," Quatre said and smiled.

- _"In her view, you are a sister."_

Of course, another nod, but after a pause.

His men did not stop talking about her, paying little attention to Quatre's line of questioning. He paused and looked at his men before looking back at Edan. When he finally returned to his own native tongue to ask if she understood everything he had said, Quatre finally caught the attention of his men. They watched as her eyes flickered over them before curtly nodding to the pilot.

They were extremely embarrassed. They spoke about her, offering up suggestions about who—or what—she was, where they had come across her, and what they knew about her through CSO's captive soldiers. All while assuming she could not understand them.

They were mistaken. She was mute, not deaf.

"Well then," Quatre said and smiled apologetically, "please forgive them. They are just as intrigued by you as we all are."

The woman shrugged, looking down at the silverware in front of her as if she couldn't have cared less. "If I give you paper, will you write down what you are thinking? I'd like to be able to converse with you in some form," Quatre said. Their drinks arrived and the waitress started handing out the glasses one by one.

Edan shrugged again. It was almost aggravating that it was all she would do.

"Ma'am, I was wondering," he spoke up as the waitress got to him, "would you be able to lend me a spare notebook and writing utensil? I would be most appreciative." Quatre's charming smile was too much for the woman to resist.

"Of course. May I take your orders firsts?"

The men ordered a variety of steaks and sides, all at Quatre's expense, not that he particularly minded. The young woman at his side, however, ordered the blandest salad there could have possibly been. When the notebook arrived only moments later, Quatre started to try to get words out of her.

"Just a salad? You can get whatever you want. I heard the roast duck was delicious here," he said and slid the paper and pen to her. It took her a few moments to actually bring her hands up and write.

_I can't taste much._

She wrote in almost perfect penmanship. It was clear and very easy to read. Turning the notebook, Quatre could see what she wrote, though he had been able to read it from his angle anyhow.

"Oh, of course, I remember Duo saying something about that," he said and blushed slightly.

000

"Hold up," Duo called out to Isabella as she stood tapping the front of her black shoe against the tiled floor, waiting for an elevator. "I want to take you up to the conference room."

"Oh really?" Her voice was mocking and laced with sarcasm, "I'm finally worthy?"

"Well aren't you snappy today," grumbled Duo. "We want to talk with you while Quatre has your bodyguard preoccupied." The elevator opened and he stepped in. Isabella didn't budge. "Hey! Come on!" He held the door, which started beeping annoyingly, but she stepped backwards.

"No," she said slowly, "no, I'm waiting for Edan to get back." The blonde started to spin around on her heel, but before she even made it the entire way, Trowa and Heero were already running up to her sides. Each hooked their arms around her, dragging her into the elevator by force. "Let—me—go!"

Isabella struggled, though it was useless against the two much stronger males. As they silently went up floor after floor, she finally gave up and slumped in their arms. They did not let go, not even when the doors reopened. Instead, they continued to pull her around like a ragdoll. Down a long hallway they went, passing the rooms outfitted to be used in business activities. Finally, they reached the conference room that they had been using as the base of their operations. Isabella had, up until now, been kept from entering.

Trowa reached out and pulled open a mahogany door as they released the young woman. They had her exit blocked, and she had nowhere else to go but forward. Inside sat three other people—Wufei, Zechs, and Noin. They were sitting at a large, oval shaped table, speaking solemnly. They looked up and fell silent, seeing Isabella.

"Um, what's going on?" Isabella asked, shifting her weight uncomfortably.

"We wanted to talk to you about CSO," stated Zechs, who even the young woman recognized. "You've grown up since the last I saw you, Miss Valentinian."

The younger of the two women in the room nodded cautiously. "I suppose I have. I was just turning thirteen when we met, I think. When you came to my father's main lab for that inspection." The male pulled out the seat to his left (Noin was at his right) and swooped his hand down to signal that he wanted her to sit. Isabella looked at the Heero and Trowa directly behind her, and Duo behind them. She had no choice but to go sit down. So she did; Isabella walked the entire way around the table, avoiding Wufei, and sat down in the designated seat.

There was tension in the air. She wanted Edan to be there with her, ready to protect her at a moment's notice.

"Trowa and I have spoken a bit," Zechs started, "and he's indicated that you know about the human testing going on at CSO. Is that true?" He put his hands together in front of him to make her feel a bit more secure. She surely saw him as a threat, at the moment.

"Well sure I do," she sighed and crossed her arms on the table, putting her head on her arms. "They all know too."

"All we know is that there are four people who have undergone surgeries that allow them to use special mobile suit systems. Some faced more severe surgeries than others, and now CSO can control those people," Heero clarified. The other pilots nodded.

"What else did you want to know?"

"How long has this testing been going on?" Zechs asked immediately.

"About two decades," she responded just as promptly.

"How many test subjects?" Duo tossed out his question, taking a seat across the table from her, kicking up his feet.

"Hundreds—probably thousands by now," Isabella sighed. There was a passing moment of quiet.

"How many are alive?" Noin whispered, speaking to Isabella for the first time since their intercom meeting in the shuttle, which had not gone all that well.

Isabella shrugged slightly. "Maybe a few hundred. Some are spread out across the globe, but they aren't like those of us who walk around freely, well known as altered beings. Though if my father could help it, we probably wouldn't be free to do what we would like," she replied nonchalantly.

"We?"

"Mhm," Isabella nodded, "Edan, Duo, and I. Vince DeBordaris still does my father's dirty work, so he'll always be able to do whatever he wants."

Noin and Zechs stared at her like she had an extra head growing out of her shoulder. Isabella rolled her eyes and sat back with a groan.

"You want a full history, don't you?"

"Yes," the entire room responded in unison.

"I'll need a cup of coffee…"

000

"So, is Edan your last name?" Quatre asked as they started to finish up with their meals at the restaurant. His men had racked up a large bill for him, but it was to be expected. They did risk their lives for him all of the time.

The woman had barely touched her salad.

She used the notebook to respond _:I don't know._

The Gundam pilot had just been ready to sip his hot tea when he saw her response. He frowned, brows furrowed, and placed the china cup back down. "I don't understand. How can you not know your last name?"

Though she did not show her annoyance visibly, Quatre could tell. She simply underlined her already written phrase _. I don't know._

After a moment of thought, Quatre persisted. "How far back can you remember?"

She stared down at her paper:  _Now until five years ago. Prior to that—bits and pieces_.

"How old are you?" He asked, but she just stared back at him. "You don't know… right, sorry…" Quatre was sure that she wouldn't voluntarily want to answer any more questions, so he returned to sipping his tea while he awaited the bill. He was in a slight state of disbelief as he watched the young woman. To him, it was strange to think that the small statured Edan, wearing a dressy blouse and a fitted pants suit, was the same young woman that nearly killed both he and Trowa. She was silently slumped forward, staring ahead with her empty eyes. She didn't look menacing in the least.

More like a small child who just needed a hug.

She was CSO's wolf in sheepskin.

000

"CSO started with human testing before I was born. One of my father's head scientists was the man you know as Doctor J," Isabella said as she finished off her first cup of coffee. Zechs politely poured her another.

"Doctor J," Heero perked up, not hiding his surprise.

"Yes," she nodded, "he ended up working for my father after he was arrested for conducting similar experiments, getting himself caught. My father expunged his record. J proceeded to work on breaking both the constraints of the mind, as well as breaking the mind itself. Many poor souls were driven mad by the work at that time. Most killed themselves. Some lived in private wards, but they didn't survive long anyhow."

"That is not something Doctor J would do," Heero stepped forward and said with certainty.

Isabella just blinked at him. "Yes, it is. He left after a few years to work with Dekim Barton. You should know. You were his favorite project while working for the Barton Foundation. You were one of two subjects in an elite soldier training program going on around the same time. One was for the colonies, and the other was for CSO… Though their methods varied a bit." Isabella explained.

Immediately, Wufei spoke up. "That woman, Edan," he said, looking at Isabella from the corner of his eye.

She nodded again. "She had her first neurosurgery when she was ten, but she had been training since before that, learning about mobile suits and close combat fighting. It's why she's so proficient now." Isabella sat back with her coffee, relaxing. The others were on guard and uncomfortable with what she was saying.

"Ten years old," Duo muttered, "she was just a child… that's…"

"Unforgivable," Noin finished, a look of disgust on her face. "Who would allow their child to do that?"

"Orphaned, I'd bet," replied Heero. Isabella shook her head vigorously. "She had parents?"

"Her father was the scientist that replaced J after he left as the head of Neuro-research. His patients never lived. After two years, he was unsuccessful. If he wanted to keep his job, and probably his life, knowing my father, he had to produce some results. So, Doctor Thrice put his only daughter into the newly developed training program that had been left behind by J. A seven year old girl was entered into the accelerated learning system, and about three years later, when Thrice had still been unable to create any subjects who survived more than a year, he had only once choice. Thrice operated on Edan, placing the very first control chip directly into her brain. CSO could send her orders directly, and her mind stopped registering physical pain," explained Isabella.

"And that's how she became how she is now?" Duo was the only other one who visibly showed his disgust.

"No," Zechs replied, "can't be. I met this Edan during my inspection seven years ago. She could still speak. In fact, she even smiled. I believe the two of you," he pointed to Isabella, "were running around the research facility on a scavenger hunt set up to keep you two busy."

Isabella chuckled. "Yes, we were. My father didn't want either of us causing trouble with the OZ soldiers who didn't know us," she said, but her smiled faded a bit. "She was still fun then. We were able to forget where we were and what we were used for while we played our stupid games…"

No one responded to her comment. No one was really sure what to say.

The artificial lighting within the colony flickered at that moment, signaling the change from late afternoon into the sunset hour of the day. They could tell because the two outer walls were mostly double-paned, bullet proof glass.

"So her name isn't Edan?" Wufei asked to break the silence, "Even you call her that though."

"It's the only name she'll recognize," Isabella responded dismally, "she doesn't remember her actual name. She was born Elisa Thrice, but she'll never know that now. Maybe it's better that way. I wouldn't want to know that my father had made me suffer so much…"

"What caused CSO to put her under tighter constraints?" Trowa asked, out of his own curiosity.

Isabella twirled a bit of her hair, clearly having a mental battle with herself. "… I have the footage on my computer, if you want me to show you…"

000

"Miss Edan," Quatre stated as they walked back to their hotel/apartment complex, "I wanted to thank you again for saving me. Is there anything I can do to repay you?" There were Maganac soldiers walking in front and behind the pair, as well as one on Quatre's left and Edan's right, creating a protective shield with them in the center.

She shrugged. After a moment of thought though, she held a small tablet for her to write on (one of the Maganac soldiers had convinced a waitress to give them one of the small notebooks used for order taking).

_Fix Red Horse._

"Oh… I'm not sure," Quatre responded, "we're concerned that CSO will take over the controls for it if we do and it will be used against us." He put his hands into his pockets and gave her an apologetic look.

_I am the controls. I can be most useful if I can use my suit. I can be a powerful asset._ She scribbled on to the paper, underlining the word am, and turned it so he could see it.

"You know, for someone who has never made any effort to communicate with us, you sure have stuff to say," Quatre said with a laugh and a shake of his head.

_I'm not stupid. No one ever asks my opinion._  Her dull green eyes narrowed and her lips moved into almost a frown. Quatre simple continued to smile. This time there was pity in his eyes.

"You're not at CSO anymore. We're not trying to control you or use you. I admit that having you here with us was not originally in the plan, but we'll still treat you as fairly as we can. Please, do forgive us if we are cautious with you at first. Trust is not one of our virtues," Quatre said, patting her on the back and causing her to tense up. "Be yourself."

Edan just stared back at him. More and more, he reminded her of her only friend.

But he wasn't her—Isabella at least knew Edan couldn't be 'herself.' She didn't remember herself.

000

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: for the record, Edan is pronounced "Ee-Dan", not like Eden. I am sorry that this chapter isn't exactly exciting. However the pilots needed a chance to recuperate, reorganize, and replan. The neurochips are a very prominent aspect of the story, which is why information about them needs to come out early.
> 
> If you're a fan of Evangelion, you may relate Edan to Rei, except that Edan literally does not speak. There are a few lines later on that are "spoken" because they are filtered through a computer voice system. But I am not joking when I say that Edan does not actually speak throughout this entire story.
> 
> There will be chapters were it seems more "day in the life" rather than "we're out soldiering." But that's war for you. It doesn't always center on the same five people when the battles are spread out over the earth and colonies…
> 
> Ever your obedient servant,  
> A.F


	9. Verse IX

After Colony: Revelation

Verse IX

"Alright, we're all hooked up," Isabella sighed. She was standing on top of the oval table (her dress heels kicked off underneath,) connecting a long cord from her computer to the projector. She turned and took Duo's hands, letting him help her hop down. Once she was safely on the ground, she pulled open an encrypted file on her computer. "There's no sound though, my apologies. It's stolen security cam footage."

The men mostly stood, leaning on the edge of the table or the walls. Noin sat in a chair next to Zechs, watching the screen intently. Isabella pulled the curtains closed and returned to her laptop to press play.

What they saw was a young Edan, probably fifteen or sixteen, dragging a child out of a building. Lights were flashing and buzzers were probably sounding, but they couldn't hear it. The girl disappeared off screen and then returned minutes later, running back in the direction she came. This time, it was harder to see her return. Smoke was covering the camera. What they could make out was Edan dragging a larger body through the hallways.

"You pilots attacked OZ's military base while she was there with my father for a research brief. He directed her to take a Taurus suit and pursue you to prove her capabilities. On her way, she heard that the dorm building had been caught in the attack. The soldiers were already gone because they had been called out for the fight at your sighting. A visiting mother and daughter were still inside. When there was shouting about people stuck in an elevator in a building with spreading fire, she didn't hesitate to go in and save them," Isabella stated, stopping the footage to open another file. "She was severely punished for disobeying a direct order. For embarrassing my father."

"Who attacked this base?" Duo asked, hoping it wasn't him.

"Lake Victoria base," she responded, "you might remember this one, Noin and Wufei. You were both there, though on opposing sides."

"This was my attack?" Wufei responded, slightly surprised. "I thought I had destroyed all of the dorms."

"You did," answered Noin, "some had been empty at the time. I remember hearing about this save. I had no idea it was that girl though."

"Most soldiers were not privileged enough to have this information. Anyhow, here's what happened back at our headquarters." Isabella played the next file.

Adelphie was shouting at Edan. She mumbled something they couldn't hear. Adelphie slapped her across the cheek. She frowned and rubbed it, but showed no signs of actual pain. He spoke.

"You disobeyed a direct order." Heero translated since he was quite skilled in lip reading. "You've embarrassed me and you've embarrassed this organization for the last time."

"Fine, terminate me." Duo translated for Edan as she scowled and put her hands on her hips. "Your loss anyhow. I know I did the right thing."

"No, you shouldn't be so lucky as to be terminated. Your training hasn't been enough. You are going to undergo the final stages of Red Horse," Heero said as Adelphie. Edan showed shock and a lack of words. Four soldiers came up behind her, grabbing both of her arms and legs. She fought them, and managed to throw off one of the burly men on her own. They used a syringe filled with some sort of liquid to weaken her. She flailed about for a bit longer before they were able to subdue her.

"No, no. Let me go, you'll just kill me," responded Duo, dully.

"No," said Heero, "only most of 'you' will die." Adelphie turned and walked away. The clip ended.

"They took her to the medical wing," replied Isabella softly. "She screamed for hours, as if she was being murdered. It was a much more painful process back then. She had to be awake throughout the entire time. She screamed and screamed and then… she never spoke again." She played with the edge of the black, frilly dress that Quatre had bought for her to wear to the funeral. The other six in the room didn't even look at one another as they reflected upon what they had just seen.

Finally, Duo spoke up to break the silence. "So," he started slowly, "she's like that… because of us...?"

"No," snapped Wufei, "she's like that because she disobeyed a direct order. Had she followed her instruction, she would still be speaking today."

"Hn," Heero grunted, not really saying anything. What he wanted to say was _: you're blaming her for trying to maintain her humanity._

"How many others are there? Like her, I mean," Noin questioned, ignoring the argument stirring between Duo and Wufei.

"None exactly like her. She's one of my father's prizes. But there are many other CSO soldiers who can be sent orders that they will have to follow. Those subjects are not as remarkable, however, because they were never very strong willed to begin. I've heard rumors of civilian subjects planted into society as well, but I can't be sure. Duo and Edan are the only two who were to have full control chips implanted. Obviously, he was saved in time to avoid that experience," said Isabella. She started to shut down her computer then moved the chair back to the edge of the table so she could climb up and unhook the cords connected to the projector.

"We need to stop this," Noin stated boldly, standing up and placing both of her palms flat, on the table. "We can't let this continue! We can go in, destroy the research base, get the proof we need, and form a coup! Surely more people will join into the rebellion if they see what disgusting things Adelphie is doing. We've got your five Gundams and now two more, plus our Tallgeese and Spartan which are still in hiding…we can free all of the test subjects!"

There was no immediate support for her position. She looked to Zechs, who shrugged haphazardly.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," responded Isabella, "many patients are in psychiatric wards for a reason. Some are incredibly violent and are truly a danger to society." Noin glared at the young woman who spoke so casually about such a horrendous act as she wrapped up her computer equipment and placed it back into her messenger bag. "I can't stop you from going, but just know that you won't be able to save everyone."

000

"How was your lunch-slash-dinner?" Isabella asked her friend, who now sat at the edge of the blonde's bed in jeans and a camisole. The pants were a little big on the silent girl. It couldn't be helped since the clothes were things that Quatre had supplied for Isabella, who was a few inches taller than Edan. Obviously, the dark haired woman did not complain. She simply cuffed up jeans and tightened the straps on the shirt. Problem solved. "I heard you were quite talkative. That's not like you."

Edan rolled her eyes and picked up the notepad from next to her.  _That rich boy is persistent. He's like you._

"Nu-uh," the blonde said loudly, waving her hand, apparently slightly offended, "I am  _not_  like Quatre. I think I'm more masculine than he is." She turned her appalled expression into a smirk when she saw the upward twitch of Edan's lips. "What do you think of these guys?"

The dark haired woman lost her expression completely. She was thinking, as Isabella recognized.  _They don't trust us. Their intentions are good though._

"I like them," Isabella sighed and jumped onto the bed next to Edan. "They're fun. Determined, too. I'm actually starting to think that we can set things right. God knows I had no hope when I first started helping them." She grabbed her pillow and held it to her. "Want to watch a movie or something? There's a nice entertainment room—"

She was interrupted by a knock on her door. Edan immediately stood up and reached for the door handle. "Who is it?" Isabella asked. She didn't have a security camera hooked up to the doorway like her rooms with her father, so she had to ask, which she wasn't used to.

"Wufei."

"Oh," she replied with surprise, "go ahead, open it."

The dark haired woman pulled the door open, but did not leave the doorway. It was just a safety precaution that Edan did very frequently. "Did you need something?" Isabella asked from the comfort of her bed.

"Not you, woman. Her," he snapped and then nodded to Edan. "I wish to speak with you, privately. Step out of the room."

Edan looked back at Isabella, who shrugged and tossed the notebook to her. "Go for it. I think you could handle him," Isabella said with a smirk, causing the Chinese male to scowl. The other woman caught the notebook before following Wufei out and shutting the door behind her. The two walked down the hallway until he felt that they were far enough away from anyone else to speak.

"I feel that it is only fair that, since we are housing you and providing for you, that you return the contribute," he stated. The woman stared up at him. Making him rather uncomfortable—or _more_ uncomfortable, if that was possible.

"Tomorrow, therefore, you must be up at dawn, out back, and prepared to spar with me," he said and crossed his arms.

She continued to stare.

Wufei looked down into her eyes and was caught off guard. There was a slight flicker behind her eyes—he had seen that before, when they were in their weapon's match. He had sparked something within her. Anger? Annoyance? Excitement even?

She lifted her notepad to her, scribbled something down, and ripped the whole note page off. Edan shoved the slip of paper into his chest before turning and walking back towards Isabella's room.

_Best of luck to you then,_ Wufei read. He scowled at the paper and crumbled it up. He knew he should have expected a response like that, and that was why he hadn't wanted to ask her. Heero had rejected his request to spar already. He was the only other pilot who actually had some sort of training in a particular style.

Heero suggested he ask the silent young woman. She was a more suitable partner than the other pilots when it came to physical training, as much as Wufei hated to admit it. He was not particularly eager to engage her again, considering how their last encounter went. However, perhaps it would offer him a chance to redeem himself.

So he stomped away, irritated by her response, but satisfied that she had agreed.

000

"What are you doing?" Trowa walked up to Quatre and handed him a cup of warm tea in a traveling mug. "It's getting too late to be down here."

The blonde was staring at Red Horse in the shuttle hanger they were using as suit storage. He smiled and took the hot drink gratefully. "I think I may rebuild the damaged section of the suit. Miss Edan's system is very similar to Sandrock-custom."

"Do you think that's really a good idea?" Trowa asked, leaning against the metal railing, next to the other pilot. He looked down, over all of the suits sleeping peacefully. Red Horse was suspended from the ceiling, hanging like a marionette. White Horse was right next to it; its pearly white metal making it look like it was either an angel or a ghost. Trowa couldn't decide.

"I don't know," sighed Quatre. "If we fix it, she could help us. But if she turns on us…" He shook his head and started to sip the much needed tea.

The two pilots stood in a comfortable silence. After a while, Trowa finally spoke. "I don't think Edan is the one to worry about."

Quatre groaned. "I completely agree. I wish you hadn't come to the same conclusion. It only makes me distrust Isabella even more. Her capabilities concern me."

"And there is the fact that Edan will do whatever she says. It's like Isabella has control over an emotionless robot. Makes her an internal threat, undeniably," Trowa added.

Quatre furrowed his brows and shook his head. "She's not a robot. She can freely think and does have emotion, whether she shows it or not. I know it—now that I've spent time with her and have had a conversation, I can tell that there's still a person beneath the image of a perfect soldier," he said with confidence. However, he and Trowa turned back to the suits and away from each other. The term perfect soldier just made them think of Heero.

"Are we going to go to the research center and shut it down?"

"I'm going," Quatre sighed. "You don't have to, if you don't want. Noin will want to go, so Zechs will probably go as well, when they've both fully recovered. Isabella may have the desire to shut it down, and if Red Horse is running, then Edan will surely follow. That's already five of us, we should be able to handle it…"

"Don't be ridiculous," Trowa said with a slight smirk, placing an arm around the shorter blonde's shoulders, "of course I'll go with you. Duo will go since he has a vendetta against CSO, and Heero will just take some talking to. Wufei is the only one who'll have to decide on his own. If he wants to, he will. If not, then he won't. Though, if my suspicions prove accurate, he won't possibly let the women go and show him up." It was quite the mouthful for the usually quiet male to say, but he was always a little different when he was alone with Quatre.

"What you really mean to say is that Wufei won't let Edan show him up. Again," Quatre said with a smile. Isabella had graciously swiped all security footage of the pilots, and that included the match between Wufei and Edan.

Wufei, needlessly to say, had been extremely angry when he had walked into the entertainment room to see the group watching the recording like a movie.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean," Trowa replied, "come on, it's late. Let's go to bed." Quatre nodded, bringing his tea to his mouth, and finishing it off. He sighed in contentment after the last gulp, and the pair walked off together. Shutting out the lights as they went, they left the Gundams to sit peacefully in the dark.

000

"How are you two holding up?" Duo asked as he walked into the large kitchen. Usually, it would be fully staffed, like a hotel kitchen with a chef on call at all hours. While Quatre was leasing it, he had released all staff save perhaps three. The pilots liked their privacy and security, after all. The braided male grabbed an apple from a ceramic dish sitting on one of the counters and hopped up to sit on the edge. Noin and Zechs were eating at an island. They had decided that midnight was a good time to sit with sandwiches and chat.

"Getting better each day," Noin said with a smile, blowing some strands of dark hair from her face. "While we were all caged up, it seemed like we'd never recover. Honestly though, it's almost like the new sense of freedom has sped up the process. Well, at least for me." She looked at Zechs, who was busy cramming another sandwich in his mouth. When he realized that he was supposed to input on the conversation, he quickly gulped and took a drink of milk.

That's right.

Two grown adults having a romantic midnight snack, and what do they choose to eat? Peanut butter sandwiches with milk and an open bag of potato chips.

"I have two broken ribs and a wrist that was recently realigned. My entire body is bruised and I have a constant headache," the former Lightning Count replied seriously. He took another bite of his sandwich, swallowed, and then continued, "but give me a week and I'm ready to get back in Tallgeese and destroy CSO."

Duo laughed and started to juggle his apple in his hands. "Well, that's definitely good to hear," he said and took a bite of it, "we'll probably end up storming the research facility. I mean, you really think Q's gonna let us ignore it? Yeah right, not with that humanitarian inside of him." Zechs looked like he may have wanted to object, but valued his food more than the argument.

"Good!" Noin exclaimed, throwing her arms up into the air. "We have to do something. We would practically be helping them if we do nothing, now that we know about it." She emphasized her opinion by taking an angry bite of her sandwich with a 'hmph.'

"I know, I know," sighed Duo. He leaned back slightly after steadying himself with his free arm, "but we can't just go into this blindly. We've got to be prepared to not only get our evidence, but spring all of the captives. What do you do with a hundred people who need severe psychiatric help?"

Even Noin knew that he had a point. It wouldn't be as simple as staging an attack to rescue rebels (not that it had been simple at all.) The people they were rescuing would have to be taken to a new clinic where they could hopefully receive help. When Adelphie controlled both Earth and Space, how could they hide and defend a mass amount of people who most likely wouldn't be able to protect themselves?

"Relena will take them," muttered Zechs. As much as he didn't want to get involved, he was fully aware that he wouldn't have a choice. Noin would make him. He had fallen, like many men had, to the power of women.

"What?" his unofficial fiancé asked, bewilderment covering her face.

"The Sanc Kingdom will take them. You know how she is about taking in the needy. She's receiving grants from the other governors to secretly house people who Adelphie would have killed in a heartbeat. That's why she reopened the girl's academy and the international affairs university." He was not happy to be revealing this information, but it would have come up sooner or later. All Heero had to do was ask Relena anyhow.

"How long?" Noin hissed. She had not known about Relena's ulterior motives in returning to her birthright, (seriously, it was getting hard to keep up with how many times the girl switched between 'Peacecraft' and 'Dorlin').

"Two years. No, closer to three now. So far, she's done well to keep herself from gathering suspicion. Oh, don't give me that look, Noin," said Zechs. He did not like the angry, thin lipped expression he was receiving from the woman across from him. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want to risk you returning to being her aid. We're both known rebels and it would have drawn too much attention if you were back there with her."

"Guys," Duo said loudly.

"What?!" Of course, Noin was the one to snap.

"We should talk to the others in the morning about this. If we're going to go through with the whole rescue/release thing, we're going to have to organize a way back to Earth. Isabella says the main facility is in the UK," he stated, hoping to divert their attention away from their small conflict. It worked for the time being, but they would surely return to the squabble at some point later.

"We will," groaned the platinum blonde male as he watched the woman start to clean their mess. She, apparently, had made the executive decision to end their late night meal. Duo just nodded and watched with raised brows.

Women could be scary.

"Uh, okay, well… g'night!" The braided pilot hopped off the counter and waved. When Noin turned her back, Duo mouthed the word ' _sorry_.' When she faced him once more, she narrowed her eyes, causing him to run off, back to his room for the night.

000

The colony's simulated sunlight started to kick in at exactly 0600. Wufei left the hotel/studio apartment complex as soon as the light started hitting the back lawn. "Damn woman… can't even follow directions… I told her to be out here…" He walked up the slight hill to where he had been going for his morning meditation every day. He was still grumbling to himself when he reached the top.

To his surprise, Edan was sitting about a yard and a half down on the other side of the mound. She was patiently waiting, watching the 'sun' rise over more and more of the colony.

"How long have you been out here? I've been waiting for a half hour, and I did not see you once," Wufei asked, not bothering to hide his irritation.

She used her notepad to communicate.  _An hour._

"Why?"

_Nothing else to do_.

"Didn't you sleep?" As he spoke, he found the spot he liked best for his daily mediation. Sadly, it was too close to the woman for his comfort. "Move down."

As much as she didn't want to, it was too difficult for Edan to ignore a direct command from someone who was convinced that he had control over her. So, she moved another yard away from her new sparring partner. She did not answer the other question.

"We will begin in approximately thirty minutes," Wufei directed, folding his legs and bringing his hands together. He closed his eyes.

They sat in silence for a few moments, until he spoke again. "It is rude to stare."

And of course, she  _had_ been staring. Edan slid back so that they were in line, but so she was still not directly next to him. After she finished shifting around, he cracked an eye to see what she had done. When he did, even he had to admit that it was slightly amusing. The young lady had gone ahead and copied what he did—she now sat in a similar meditative position with her eyes shut. Wufei closed his eyes again and returned to his peaceful state.

000

"Isabella," Heero grunted from the other side of the wooden door. "Isabella." He pounded on the door. Finally, there was groaning from the other side. She walked to the door, unlocked it, and pulled it open.

Her hair was down (he had never seen her with her hair down) and she was wearing an oversized t-shirt that Rashid had donated for her to wear while they were still on Earth. For the first time ever, he had managed to catch her sleeping.

She barely ever slept. Nor did Edan, he was noticing. Did that have to do with their neuro-enhancements? Well, Isabella practically ran off of caffeine. The other girl? Not so much.

"What?" Her voice was raspy, and she had to cough to clear her throat.

"We told you to keep your door unlocked," Heero said in his typical, monotone voice.

"God, please tell me you didn't just wake me up to get me to unlock the door," she groaned. If she hadn't been so tired, she probably would have snapped. But in her heavily lidded state, she could just stand, twist the edge of her shirt, and wait for Heero to finish.

"Quatre is looking into rebuilding Red Horse. Do you have the designs for it?"

"Yeah," she replied softly, her head starting to feel incredibly weighted, "I can send them to—him—" she yawned, "—later." Isabella started to turn to go back into the room.

Heero caught her arm. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she snapped, snatching her arm back from his hand, "I only fell asleep twenty minute ago after being up for thirty-six hours, okay? I know I hardly sleep, but even I need a day to catch up, every now and then. Give me twelve hours." Back into the room she went, like a zombie.

"Don't lock the door," Heero said as the door started to shut. There was a grumble, but he couldn't understand it. Isabella did not lock the door though.

000

"What are you watching?"

After speaking with the blonde girl, Heero searched out the group of pilots in a second floor lounge, their faces pressed against the wide windows. No one responded, forcing Heero to take a spot next to Duo.

"They started almost an hour ago," Trowa finally said. "Wufei stood up from what I assume was meditation, and almost instantly started attacking her. She's doing surprisingly well."

The pair was on the hill top, exchanging blow for blow. However, it was not like what they had seen when Heero and Wufei had sparred—that had always been more crude, less fluid. What they saw now was more like an art form. Swing of the arm, block, follow through, dodge, raise of the knee, a catch… It was liked they had practiced it all before.

"How the hell did that happen?" Duo turned around, shaking his head in disbelief. He dragged a brown, leather footrest to a matching chair and dropped into it, kicking his feet up. "We all know how he feels about women in general, so actually deciding to level and fight with one? I'm sure he's feeling extremely frustrated that he couldn't knock her out within the first ten minutes."

"No, you don't get it, Duo," Noin sighed, leaning her back against the window. "Wufei just comes from a society where women are considered something to be protected. If they can prove that they can take care of themselves, then he doesn't have a problem with them. He told Sally and I while we worked as preventers. Why do you think we all worked so well together?"

Duo just waved his hand, basically to say,  _yeah, whatever_.

"I told him he should ask her," Heero said, causing everyone to look at him in shock. "We've seen their match footage. She can best keep up with him out of all of us. It'll also build her trust, and maybe we won't have to rely on Isabella to tell her what to do." As he spoke, he didn't even look at the rest of the group, instead, he stared out of the window with his arms across his chest.

"I really don't think that will work. They're practically family," Quatre sighed.

"I dunno… Heero has a point. That Edan will listen to Wufei. I tried to get her to do something, she wouldn't. He asked her to do the same thing, she did it without a fight. We may be able to use her if there's someone else to control her," Duo replied, tapping on the arms of the chair.

"And with Isabella," Trowa started to add, "Edan gets nothing out of their relationship. Isabella has a bodyguard and a servant. They're 'friends' because Edan doesn't know any better."

"The only thing you'll have to worry about is Wufei going rogue again, like Mariemaia's army." It was the thus-silent Zechs who broke the positive atmosphere.

And then there was silence.

"I'm sure he wouldn't do that," Quatre said finally. They quickly moved passed the topic—after all, Wufei was still with them. They didn't have to worry half as much as long as they could keep an eye on him.

"Isabella will send Red Horse's plans to you," Heero stated, speaking to Quatre before widening the conversations to the other pilots. "Are we all in agreement to go to the UK research facility and shut it down?" It was the question on all of their minds.

"Even if we aren't, you know we'll end up going anyhow," responded Trowa.

Duo gave a ' _ha_ ' and nodded, "well, that's definitely true. Guess that means we're all in, whether we want to or not."

000

Wufei was becoming increasingly frustrated, but also strangely satisfied at the same time. He had not had such an opportunity in some time—not since before the destruction of his colony. The pair had been sparring for almost an hour, and still no winner could be declared. He wanted so very much to be able to prove his strength against Edan. It annoyed him that she could not only keep up and counter his moves, but she seemed to be able to copy the techniques after seeing them two or three times.

Slowly, she was figuring out the style that belonged to the renowned Dragon Clan—a style that had taken him a decade to learn and was still continuously mastering.

As much as he wanted to be angry at her, it was exciting. If her best skill was to copy his moves, then he wasn't just trying to defeat the woman, but partially himself as well.

A unique opportunity indeed.

Neither came out victorious, at least, not at that time (Wufei would continue to challenge her almost every day that they had ample space to adequately spar,) but both dropped to the grass, out of breath. After a few moments, Edan's arm stretched out and she gave him one last haphazard smack for good measure. They were exhausted, but it was well worth it.

000

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: Thank you for reading! I promise there will be more action. As I said before, once the action starts, the downtime they have to do random bits like this will go away. Next up—heading back to earth to free some psychotic prisoners! What could go wrong, right?  
> Ever your servant,  
> A.F


	10. Verse X

After Colony: Revelation

Verse X

The group that went to space as six, returned to Earth as nine, plus the Maganac, of course. It was a long, tedious trip trying to get to Quatre's home. After all, they had to do it without CSO catching onto their return. However, after two weeks from their initial departure home, they were all sitting on Quatre's back porch, near the pool, having a group dinner.

Trowa was grilling hamburgers at Isabella and Duo's request, with Noin's help in setting a large table. Wufei and Quatre were sitting, playing an intense game of chess on a class chessboard, while the two pranksters ran around the marble edge of the water, trying to push each other into it.

Heero, Zechs, and Edan played cards (Isabella and Duo had been playing, until Duo took all of Isabella's chips, causing Edan to subsequently take all of his newly gained pot to avenge her friend; once he was out, Isabella started her attempt to shove him into the pool). Edan was currently in the lead of the Texas Hold 'Em game in play.

"Someone is going to slip and break their neck," Zechs muttered as the running pair passed him, Isabella shrieking and almost getting caught.

The brunette girl sighed, went all in, forcing the other two do to so as well, and then stood.

"You're done?" Heero asked, flipping over the remaining two cards.

She did not respond, but threw down her cards anyhow, face up. She went over towards the pool, waiting for Isabella to run by again, which she did. Edan caught her arm, causing her to stop and whine about her fun being ruined.

The two seemed to have a full discussion, made up entirely of Isabella's complaining and Edan's expressions. In the end, the blonde gave a 'fine!' and stomped over to the table being set by Noin. She sat down with crossed arms, pouting.

The rest of the pilots looked at Edan with a raised brow. For months, they could barely keep the blonde woman under control, and the other woman was able to do it without a single word uttered. Amazing.

At least they could now hope for a much more relaxing environment now.

"Food's done," Trowa called out, immediately bringing Duo to the table. He tried to sit down next to Isabella, but Chang quickly stood up.

"Not a chance, Duo," he growled, leaving behind the chess game, "you sit away from her and on the other side." As if to emphasize his point, Heero sat on one side of Isabella, and Edan on the other. Zechs and Quatre sat at the heads of the table (Noin at Zech's right, Heero at his left, Trowa on Quatre's left, and Wufei at his right, who was next to Edan) with Duo between Noin and Trowa.

Thankfully, it was a large table.

Their dinner was enjoyable. They laughed and talked and it seemed like they had all been good friends for years—or possibly family that actually liked each other.

However, their amusement was put to a screeching halt as dinner came to an end. It was a quick reminder as to what they were fighting for and what they needed to stop.

As they were cleaning up, Isabella and Duo returned to their antics until Heero forced them to take the dishes into the house. When they returned, the two decided to calm down in order to avoid being put to work. Isabella sat on the edge of the water, her pants rolled up and pale legs kicking absent mindedly. The braided pilot stood next to her, teasing her about how her legs could barely be seen against the white washed pool wall.

"I at least have—" he started to say, but was unable to finish. The young woman turned, just to see Duo's eyes become heavy lidded and then fell, face first, into the pool. She didn't waste a moment, jumping in after him.

Where they had been was in the five foot area, so Isabella was just barely able to keep her head out of the water. "I need help!" She struggled to bring his head above water so that he didn't drown. There was more splashing and Heero was in the water as well. Still, even with the two (Heero wasn't much taller than Isabella), it was extremely difficult to lift the dead weight, sinking body of Duo. They only made progress when Trowa dived in and swam over, since he was easily one of the strongest and tallest. He stood, helping to flip Duo over, then hooked his arms beneath Duo's and started to pull him backwards.

When they reached the four foot level, Isabella and Heero were able to help, since Duo was becoming heavier as more of his body was pulled from the water.

As attention was on the pool, there was another crash, but not in the water.

Quatre, Wufei, Zechs, and Noin turned to see what had caused the incredible loud, violent crashing sound.

The large, glass table that they had eaten at was no more. Edan was on the ground, bleeding, and shaking. The tabletop had slid off its mount and hit the ground. Her eyes were also heavy, like Duo's. The group of four started to turn to help the young woman, who had apparently collapsed while she was setting the dirty dishes down to help, right into the glass table. However, they had to stop and turn back.

"Zechs, we need another set of hands," Yuy called out. Isabella's grip had loosened up on Duo, and then she glided into the water herself, unconscious. Zechs went in as directed and grabbed hold of the blond woman, pulling her to the steps that led out of the water.

"What's happening?" Quatre asked, waiting at the edge to carry the unconscious bodies to the lounge chairs to keep from moving them too much. It was hard to evaluate the situation, since it was simply so bizarre.

Noin and Wufei were wary about moving Edan—she had numerous bits of glass in, on, and around her. After a few moments of starting to try to move her, only to stop after, Noin stood up. "I'll get a wet towel and we'll wipe her down to get rid of the glass shards, and then move her." So she ran off as Duo was pulled from the pool and towards the chairs.

When Noin returned, she took the wet towel and did her best to remove as much glass as she could, trying to keep the shards from getting any shards from slicing her skin anymore. However, when Wufei went to brush glass from her hair and face, even he was unnerved by the complacent expression she had. For the second time, she looked like she was dead—but she clearly wasn't, since her entire body was lightly shaking. "Let's move her," he said, and Noin returned to Edan's side, this time with Zechs who had already moved Isabella.

Together, they carried the quivering body to a third lawn chair.

"I'll get blankets so Isabella and Duo stay warm until they've dried." Quatre ran off, back into the house.

"Something must be wrong with their neurochips," Heero decided, stepping back to look at the trio that had made up War, Plague, and Famine in CSO's Horsemen projects.

"Well, then what are we supposed to do about this?" Noin asked, her hands on her head, "Isabella's the only one who can do anything if it involves those damned chips. We can't very well try to get into their minds." She paced around a bit, disliking the helplessness she felt in the situation.

"We'll have to wait it out and hope one, or all, of them wake up," replied Trowa. He pulled up another lawn chair and sat, ready for an all-nighter. It was ridiculous, how calm he was, when Quatre was wide eyed and antsy, and Noin was pacing about like crazy. Zech's brows were furrowed, and Wufei just looked angry. Yes, only Trowa and Heero were indifferent.

"We'll keep them here. They should be fine as long as they are warm," stated Heero. "We'll keep watch and see if Isabella comes around. Her unconsciousness did not come on so suddenly, maybe she isn't as badly affected." He also grabbed a chair, slid it up next to Trowa, and sat with crossed arms.

"I will go get more blankets. It gets chilly out here," muttered the blonde pilot. He did not want to be around the two wet pilots, nor the bleeding pilot.

000

It was Zech's shift, but Noin sat with him, the couple keeping careful watch over the unconscious group. It was nearly six a.m.

"Zechs," the woman muttered, but there was no response, "Zechs!" Her voice became louder, stirring him from the slight dozing state he was in.

"What," he barked, "what is it?"

"I think Isabella is moving, but maybe I'm seeing things."

As they watched carefully, they did, in fact, see her start to wake up. She shifted at first, as if just waking from a normal sleep. Then there was a groan and her arm went to her head. "This chair is ridiculously uncomfortable," she said, rubbing her eyes.

The former OZ colonel jumped up and went to her side. "Good. You're up. You need to help Maxwell."

"My God, give me time to wake up. And a cup of coffee. Yeah, that would help." Isabella swung her legs over and made a look of pure disgust. "I'm going to shower, change, and then work on Duo. Don't worry, another half hour won't make a difference." Standing, she awkwardly hobbled over to the patio door. Her clothes were still damp and uncomfortable.

"If you'll stay, I'll go wake Heero and make some coffee for her, okay?" Noin did not wait for her somewhat fiancé to respond. Instead, she went right in, after Isabella.

And just as Isabella had promised, she was back out, bundled up in a pair of sweatpants with a blanket around her, and hooked up Duo and her computer. Heero and Wufei watched her carefully as she typed away, her headpiece in and her computer making strange sounds as it worked. It was just like her first night at the estate, but this time, he did not wake to try to attack her.

"There," she sighed and disconnected after almost two hours, "he should wake on his own now." The blonde picked up her large travel mug and started to drink from it.

"What about Edan?" Wufei asked after, earning him a look from Heero, but he ignored it. "Well?"

"Eh, I'll get her later," replied Isabella, sitting back in her chair and curling her legs beneath her.

"…what?"

"I'm tired. I need a break," she said coolly with a shrug, "I'll help her later. I think I need to eat, I'm starting to get light headed…" As if to make a point, she yawned loudly and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

"So you're going to let your friend, who you insisted we ' _rescue_ ' and ' _save_ ' because you cared about her so much, lie there, shaking and unconscious, because you're too tired." More than anything, Wufei was just aggravated with Isabella. In his mind, she was supposed to protect and help those who could not help themselves, and she was not doing that.

Her casual disregard for another person seemed to be rarely questioned by anyone else. In fact, to Wufei, it seemed that she was only acting when it came to compassion for anyone other than herself.

"First of all," Isabella said, her voice becoming icy, "I'm rather surprised that you're so eager to get Edan back up and running. Second, you have no idea how time consuming, energy draining, and pain staking this process is. It is much better for you to allow me to assess the situation and make the best decision."

Wufei looked at her through dark, narrowed eyes before crossing his arms and turning his back to her. He chose to leave the patio area before their argument expanded into something more.

He had more control than that.

Another hour passed, and Duo was awake. He had a headache and a sore throat from the chlorine he swallowed, but besides that, he was fine.

"What happened to me?" He asked, chugging yet another bottle of water after he spoke. "It just went black, and next thing you know, I'm waking up with a headache and feeling like I went swimming with all my clothes on."

"CSO was trying to access us," replied Isabella from her spot on the kitchen island, rubbing her temples, "more specifically, Death was trying to put in a control code. We fail-safed."

"What are you talking about?" Noin took Duo's water bottle and filled it back up for him.

"Project Green Horse—Death," Isabella replied with an annoyed sharpness. "He's designed to be able to tap into the rest of us. Duo's incomplete, so he just shut down as soon as Vince tried. I don't have nearly as many control chips as either him or Edan. I deliberately designed mine to put me to sleep if I do not slip into the control state, so I passed out. Edan has much more to fight against, and I've already disabled as much as I can, so, she… short circuited… and her muscles are just spasming from the desire to follow through with the orders. She's fine, just in between her own consciousness and control. Don't worry about her."

Everyone turned in relatively early that night since no one slept for any more than a few hours, if all, the night before. Well, mostly everyone.

Isabella stayed up, working her magic on Edan. After an hour and a half, she ended up putting her head down on the table she was using, and falling asleep (she often fell asleep in awkward positions, so the table wasn't the worst).

The boys had moved Edan after she was deemed safe to be moved. For almost half the day, the silent woman had lain in the parlor of the house, on a comfortable couch. Around five in the morning, Wufei left his room to go do his morning meditation. He planned to head through the back door, causing him to briefly pass by the open double doors of the parlor room. He had to back track and look in, when he noticed that something was off.

Edan was not on the couch where he and Trowa had left her.

Wufei paused for a moment, looking to see if anyone else was moving about. He turned back around and walked up the front stairs, making a left at the top, and going for the room that was Edan's. He thought about knocking, but he saw that the door was slightly open. Pushing it open, he quietly stepped in.

Honestly, he wasn't sure why he was creeping about. He didn't hear anything, so he half doubted that she was even there. He still should have announced himself though, before entering a lady's room. However, his legs were already moving of their own accord.

The reason he did not hear anything in the room was because she was not in it. She was in the large bathroom that connected her room to Isabella's. Her door was open, and she was leaning forward, towel drying her hair. Luckily, she already had a pair of jeans on, but that was all.

Wufei tried to quickly turn around and leave, but it was too late. She had already seen him in the mirror. She stood, putting the towel to her chest and looking back at his reflection.

He swirled around and marched himself right out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Back he went, down the stairs, passing Heero (who always awoke at odd hours) and making his way to the back door. Wufei threw it open.

While staying at Quatre's home, he would do his meditation in a small gazebo meant for small parties, which were never held. Wufei sat down with a loaded sigh, putting his hands to his head and shaking it. He was incredibly angry with himself. Finally, he settled down and started to breathe deeply, clearing his mind.

But he could not concentrate. All he could picture was his late Nataku, shouting angrily at him for being too much like Duo. Obviously, that situation had never happened, it was just his conscious manifesting itself into an image.

Well, if she were around, Meiran would surely be extremely angry at him for his inappropriateness.

Wufei sat back, putting his arms behind him, and groaned as he tilted his head back to stare upwards. After gazing at the wooden ceiling with gloss coating chipping away from the desert sandstorms, something new entered his sightline. Edan leaned over him, causing him to jerk forward. "What are you doing here, woman?"

She sat down next to him with a shrug.

They sat in an awkward silence, the Wufei stealing uneasy glances at the female, who simply gazed off into the nothingness of the desert in front of them. When he couldn't take it anymore, he turned to face his body to her side, shifting up to sit on his legs.

"Edan," he started formally, "it was inappropriate for me to enter your room unannounced. Though I sometimes ignore it, the fact is that you are still a woman and I had no right to invade. Please accept my apology, and know that it will not happen again." Wufei waited for a response, as he should have, with a completely serious expression.

The silent woman stared at him and blinked. And then her lips twitched upwards into a slight smile. And then she did something that no one, no one, had seen in years.

She covered her smiling mouth, eyes shut, and her shoulders shaking. She—was—laughing.

"Fine!" Wufei shouted and jumped up, "this is exactly why I don't like you people! I was just trying to correct the situation—" when he tried to turn away, her hand shot out to grab him.

Reflexively, he twisted away and guarded himself.

Edan stood up and opened her little notebook. She scribbled something down, and then ripped off the page to give to Wufei.

_Apologies. Thank you. But I am a soldier. I do not know privacy._

"Still—" he started to say until she tore off another sheet.

_You don't scare me_.

He read the note then, fuming, ripped the note up into little pieces and tossed it into the wind. He wasn't sure if he should be offended. "Unbelievable…"

000

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: I want to send a thank you to the anonymous reviewer Pat who always sends me great reviews and helps motivate me. And on that note, I also want to thank ShineyWurmple who is totally wonderful and helps me feel like I'm on the right track! You are both so great! Thank you!
> 
> This is a shorter chapter, but the next chapter is on the longer end and action packed. I am super eager to get to that one. It is the chapter that initially sparked the idea for this story. It came from this deep question: "Who would win during a potential zombie apocalypse? Zombie horde or the Gundams/gundam pilots?" So, prepare for zombies (sort of.)
> 
> Ever your servant,
> 
> A.F


	11. Part I: Verse XI

After Colony: Revelation

Verse XI

"Good to see you boys—oh, and you Noin—again!" Howard called out with a wide smile. He stood, half leaning, on the ramp to his ship—Swift Trillion—waiting for them to board. A few of the Maganac were loading their Gundams on to the huge ship. "Are these the two young ladies you were talking about, Quatre?"

"Isabella," said the blonde girl nervously, throwing her hand out to greet the ship's owner/captain.

"Oh," Howard replied, taking her hand and shaking it, "pleasure to meet you, Isabella. Is, ah, everything okay?"

Her behavior was jittery, and her smile was entirely forced. It was easy to see that something was wrong. "I don't like boats," she replied, "they make me sick."

"Well, sweet heart," laughed the gray haired man, "good thing she ain't just a boat. The Swift Trillion is a true ship."

He couldn't have been more accurate. It was a cross between a cruise liner and an aircraft carrier, meant to fool CSO scouts. The exterior was lined with windows, looking like a floating hotel. In fact, there were very few rooms. It was set up as concealment for mobile suits. "Tallgeese and Sparta are currently in a haven near your target. I have to unload them if I wanted to try to fit seven full Gundams inside."

Quatre was quick to respond, "It's more like six and three quarters. I need to finish the repairs to Red Horse—if you've received my deposit."

"Sure did. All parts are in the repair hangar. I can have my men lend a hand and—"

Edan violently shook her head.

"—okay, or not. Well, all aboard."

000

"Quite the group you've compiled," Howard said casually, walking up behind Heero and leaning on the railing overlooking the deck. Isabella and Duo had just done something to make Wufei furious, as usual, and stomp away. Quatre and Trowa were lending their aid to Edan, who wouldn't let anyone but the pilots even look at Red Horse's design. Zechs and Noin were nowhere to be found.

"Hn."

"You know, I noticed something odd about the parts Quatre had me requisitioned. Some of them are parts that should be hard to come by—parts that have to reason to be frequently manufactured. They are typically used in biological warfare. Red Horse seems to take it as part of its engine unit, which may not be all that strange since the reactors need such strong filtration… What concerns me is how easy it was to get a hold of. I know the other CSO suits need the part, so why would they be popping up in the black market to frequently?" Howard rubbed the back of his neck.

Heero did not respond, but he hadn't really expected him to say anything about it. The pilots had all seen the blue prints, and no one had been particularly alarmed at anything they found. While the design was certainly different from their slightly outdated models, neither Red Horse nor White Horse appeared to be any more dangerous than the Gundams.

"Well, I have faith in you boys. If you guys want to do something, you always manage to do it. You have allies in strange places," the older man sighed. "We will enter the hot zone in approximately five days, assuming we don't take long picking up the other two suits. As soon as they catch on, your girl here is going to set up Empty Space so that the doll system can't target Swift Trillion. We'll follow behind, after you've cleared the danger, and load up the patients to get to Sanc."

Heero barely blinked. "Relena is expecting us within two weeks."

"I don't foresee any problems, as long as we stay hidden on any lurking radars," Howard sighed. He tapped the railing and smiled a bit, turning around. "Try not to enjoy yourself too much."

000

"No. I'm sorry, but that simply isn't possible."

"Why would I make up such stories?" Wufei crossed his arms and scowled at the blonde girl. She had cornered him to ask him why he had gone into Edan's room.

"I don't know. Perhaps to hide the fact that you never actually apologized to her in the first place," she replied from her position in front of him. Isabella was popping some motion sickness pills to keep from becoming ill.

"I do not need to listen to this." Marching away from her, Wufei went to return to his solitude on a windy, top deck.

"What was that about?" Duo walked into the hallway from his explorations. He was chewing on an apple.

"Wufei says he made Edan laugh. He is surely lying. I've never heard her laugh, not in over half a decade, at least. I highly doubt she'd laugh, while mute, at Wufei," replied Isabella, staring at the Chinese male's back with a grimace as he stomped away. Then she looked at Duo. "My. God. Why are you always eating?"

000

"Everyone ready?" Quatre connected to all nine pilots. Four were on a much smaller ship that Howard's buddy was captaining. Red Horse, White Horse, Tallgeese, and Sparta were all lying motionless under tarps, waiting to take off. The five Gundam boys were in similar positions on Swift Trillion—though Sandrock was in the launch hatch, a few decks below, since his thermal cape was to be left behind and not discarded in the water like the others.

"Roger," replied Noin, who had taken control while on the other ship. "Ready for takeoff."

She was quite enjoying being back in the pilot's seat after so long.

"Then let's go." Sandrock rocketed from the opening, dropping into the water for a moment before heading into the air. One by one, the Gundams started to head into their battle, leaving Swift Trillion behind.

It was a fifteen minute flight before the Isle of Man's Research Facility's guards caught sight of them and prepared for their battle. Most were mobile dolls, but there were some Seal suits keeping guard. Heero had no doubt that the soldiers stationed there were terrified. There were not only five rebel Gundams and two GMS prototypes, but two of their own CSO Gundams coming directly at them.

Surprisingly, there wasn't too much resistance.

Well, it was either that, or it was just easier with all of the extra help. That could have very well been true, but it wasn't all that likely.

For the first time, they got to witness White Horse's attacking power.

She was strong—strong enough that the CSO dolls couldn't take her down. However, she was designed for long ranged attacks, and couldn't get too close to the battle, lest she be unable to defend herself. Red Horse, on the other hand, was cutting down one after another, getting almost recklessly close to the numerous dolls, risking being overwhelmed.

Something seemed to be making her fight harder than before.

"Isabella," Heero said over the intercom, "control her."

"I'm trying! She's just not listening!" the blonde woman shouted angrily.

"Why would you want to stop her?" Chang asked. "She's fighting by her own will. She is driven." Because she had upped the ante, Wufei also went solo into the center of the doll troop. He had accepted the challenge.

"They'll provide a decent distraction," Trowa commented, aiming the arm of his suit at a doll that came his way. "Now would be a good time to disable the security of the building."

"Already on it." Isabella withdrew some distance from the battle and centered her attention to the connection to the internal security system. "Duo, keep me covered."

"Do I have to? I really wouldn't mind seeing you uncovered…"

"Maxwell," Heero's voice sounded, causing the braided fool to frown.

"Yeah, yeah, I've got it, no problem," he mumbled in response, "I'll be on ya like crabs to a hooker."

There was silence. Apparently, the other pilots didn't find humor in his analogy.

"It's a joke guys, a joke, ha, ha?" Duo said loudly, and rather flatly, _"…lighten_ _—up_."

Zechs and Noin reached them at that moment, thankfully relieving them of the awkward air. "The South entrance is clear," reported the woman, "only two suits, and they were taken out quickly. It may be the best way for us to get in, as planned, or it may just be a trap."

"Only two?" Deathscythe thrust upwards and sliced a metallic black doll in half, "sounds like a trap…"

"Maybe, but it's still the most direct route to the subject wing. We're going to have to go through anyhow." Isabella pulled up the maps on the unengaged pilots' screens (meaning all pilots, minus Wufei and Edan; it was up on Trowa's for only a moment before he took off to block the entrance of a hangar that had just opened from the ground). "We just need to cut out all power except for the emergency generator, so that most communication is shut down. The facility will be mostly dark, and we should have the benefit, since there will be more civilians than soldiers inside."

"Alright," said Zechs, "Noin and I will go destroy all communication towers."

"Quatre, you come with Isabella and I," directed Wing Zero's pilot, "Duo, you go to the eastern entrance. The control room is there. You can cut the power, get the files, and then meet with us for prisoner rescue." No one wasted any time arguing. Instead, each pilot broke off to their respective directions.

Red Horse and Altron were still off in their own little world. Heavyarms was successfully keeping dolls from making their way to the battleground. Noin and Zechs were going from one scattered communication tower to another.

Sandrock, White Horse, and Wing Zero were discarded for the time being, their pilots running to the unguarded southern entrance.

"It's locked," said Heero, with no inflection in his voice.

Isabella rolled her eyes and bitterly replied, "Well yeah. Did you expect to just walk right in?"

"You didn't bring your laptop, and it's not a key code. How are we getting in?" Quatre asked. Heero pulled out his gun and aimed for the card slot. The young lady quickly grabbed him.

"Don't do that…you'll just destroy our only way in," she warned slowly, encouraging him to put the gun down. "I will handle this." Cautiously, Isabella walked to the swipe section. From her pocket, she withdrew a familiar, long cord with caps at each end. Popping off one cap, she pushed her hair to the side and plugged it into her skull, causing Quatre to wince. The other side was delicately placed into the center of the slot. "There are connections in most card swipes. It's the best way to bypass the system. Usually you'd need a computer. It's used for maintenance."

After about ten minutes, she was still working.

"You still haven't managed to open the door? Typical…" Wufei and Edan had stopped fighting to join the rescue. "We've destroyed all of the mobile dolls. Once the communication towers were knocked out, they stopped coming. We've decided to fight here now."

"Sure, sure," Isabella said casually, "Edan just wanted to get in faster to _Nathaniel._ "

"Who?"

"He's a soldier who was put into the enhancement program with Edan years ago. Nathaniel Anderson. Her first _love_ ," sighed Isabella, making the statement sound extremely mushy. There was then a beeping. "Wonderful. We're in. All outside doors are now open. Duo should also be able to get in now."

Heero grabbed the handle, twisted, and threw it open.

"We just go through the entryway, make a right, and then break open the door to the cell room. Shouldn't be too hard," muttered Isabella, who disconnected from the cord. "Lead the way. I'm unarmed. I would prefer to be in the middle of the group."

Heero was ready to lead, but the silent woman didn't even hesitate to push passed him and start their attack. Heero and Quatre had not realized that she was carrying a weapon. When they saw it was holstered at her side, it was a surprise to them.

As they reached the door, the lights all went off. Duo managed to cut the power, apparently.

"This door's electronic security is already disabled. You boys just have to force it open now." Isabella stepped back to let the three men work.

"Need some help?" Zechs walked up to the group as they looked around for some sort of leverage. "Noin and Barton are handling things outside."

"We need to get the door opened," answered Quatre desperately. "Something metal to get the hinges dislodged."

There was a following silence.

"How about some C4," asked the former OZ colonel. The pilots stared at him. "Really? Not a single one of you thought to bring some explosives?"

"Well…" Quatre's brows were furrowed, but he answered, "we weren't sure if we'd end up in the line of fire, and we didn't want to be carrying explosives if that were the case. What would have happened if we accidentally harmed a patient?"

"Fair enough. Move aside." He did not try to argue over whether or not he should be carrying the C4; he just set it in front of the door.

Everyone moved back a safe distance while Zechs withdrew a detonating device. He readied it, a red, blinking light signaling its calibration. Pressing it, it was only a moment before the C4 exploded. The dust cleared and Heero went to the door, pulling the metal that barely hung to the hinges away. He hadn't even managed to force it open enough for someone to get through when Edan stepped up and twisted herself to fit through the gap.

"Impatient woman," Wufei growled and decided to help Wing Zero's pilot. The sound of metal on metal could be heard as the door scraped against the floor.

When they could finally enter, they were greeted with a horrible surprise.

"What… what is this?"

All of the prisoners were out of their cells. They stood in perfect lines—eight across, nine back. They were dressed in white patient garb, and all with shaved heads.

There was absolute silence in the room. Edan's footsteps could be heard as she walked up to one and stared him down. Their eyes were opened, and each colored set looked exactly like Edan's. Lifeless.

"Oh no," Isabella whispered, "no, no, no, no…"

"What are they doing?" Zechs stood behind the hacker woman. "Why are they just standing there?"

"They've been activated," she replied, her features revealing her struggle to stay calm. "These are failed experiments. They should never have been used. Their control chips aren't finished, and their minds are fragile. Now…I can't fix them like I did for Duo or Edan. No one can. We can't save them."

"So we've come here for nothing," Wufei muttered. "Such a waste."

"What do we do?" Heero snapped his fingers in front of a woman, seeing if there was a reaction. Nothing.

"We need to back out very slowly. They're very temperamental. I'm surprised the C4 didn't—Edan, no!"

The silent woman withdrew her gun and placed it to the patient's head in front of her. She pulled the trigger.

Suddenly, all of the patients started moving.

Growling.

Foaming at the mouth.

"They're attacking! Let's get out of here!" Quatre shouted.

"Woman!" Wufei snapped. "Come back here!"

Edan just made her way further into the crowd, shooting as she went.

"Edan! Stop! Stop!" Isabella cried out.

Zechs placed his hand on her shoulder. "Let her go. Don't you see what she's doing?"

Heero withdrew his own gun. "She's putting them out of their misery."

The patients were shrieking, hissing, trying to rip the pilots to shreds…it made Isabella think of the old zombie films she had seen. She was really glad Duo wasn't there—

"Zombies!"

Speak of the devil.

Duo was on top of a balcony that over looked the patients. "They're honest-to-God zombies!" The patients turned their attention to the new pilot. There was a set of stairs that was quickly overwhelmed with white clad patients. Duo pulled out his gun and started shooting his attackers.

There were seventy-two patients overall. Ten were on the ground, not moving. One by one, they continued to drop as the pilots (minus Isabella and Wufei, who were unarmed) ended the suffering of the pained projects.

"Woman!" Wufei shouted, punching a patient in the stomach when he stacked, knocking the patient to the ground. "Woman! Woman! Edan!"

Finally, she turned around.

Wufei was shocked to see that she had an expression. She looked like she wanted to cry. Raising her gun to Wufei's level as a patient crossed their path, she shot the patient between the eyes, causing him to fall into the pilot.

While he tried to move out of the way, he was suddenly tackled by two women. "Their strength! It's unnatural!" He twisted one off of him, but it was difficult to bring himself to hit the other woman. Luckily, Edan was indifferent to the task.

With six pilots shooting down the patients, it wasn't much of a lasting battle. Wufei wasn't shooting (he was opposed to guns in close combat fights, and his sword was in his suit,) so he was simply keeping them at bay.

However, as he was dealing with another woman, who had grabbed Edan by the back of her head and grasped her hair, a male came up behind him with a metal rod he had pried off of one of the cell walls. He hit Wufei in the back of the head.

Wufei fell to his knees, letting go of the woman and bracing his head. "Damn!" He gritted his teeth and tried to turn around, but was met with a blow to his shoulder—then to his other, and then to his arm. The male raised the pipe above his head, a twisted grin plastered to his face. "Woman! Give me your gun!"

Edan turned around and was about to hand it over—but froze when she saw the attacker. A pained expression crossed her features—as if to say, "oh no," or "even you?" Wufei looked back at the patient, who was looking at the silent woman. He read the stitched-on name tag on the left side of the man's chest.

_N. Anderson_.

With a mix between a laugh and a choke, he brought the pipe down.

It never hit. Edan shot the patient in the head.

And then she stopped. She stood for a moment, then reached out and offered her hand to Wufei, her head bowed as she stared at the bleeding body.

He accepted with his uninjured arm, and she pulled him up. "Come on," he said and tried to pull her away. She pried herself from his grasp and just stood, gazing down at the fallen patient. "Don't do this!" He took Edan's hand and roughly pulled her away, back towards the group.

"Noin just got in touch with me," Zechs called out, discarding his now empty weapon. "There are more suits coming. We need to get out of here!"

"Ah! Ah! I've been bitten! _Oh god! I've been bitten_!"

"Duo! Get your ass down here! We've got to run!" Isabella shouted from her spot, some distance away from him.

He forced his way down the stairs. In the end, there were a few patients left over. But with no bullets left, there was no way to humanely put them out of their misery. They had to be left alone, forced back into their cells.

The slightly injured party went running (Wufei was still dragging Edan out by the wrist) back to the front of the facility.

"I can't believe we couldn't save anyone," mumbled Duo, "but at least I got the proof we needed. I downloaded as much security feed as I could. I stole some more backup discs too. Hope that's enough."

When they made it outside, there were explosions. The facility was being destroyed—it was being self-destructed.

With that realization, Edan stopped and tried to go back in.

"Damn it woman!" Wufei snapped, grabbing Edan's waist and forcing her forward, "let it go. We have to get out of here!" He dragged her a few yards, before she started moving on her own. Wufei let her go, but still kept hold of her wrist so that she couldn't try to run as soon as he released her. "We're going to our suits!"

Wing Zero, Sandrock, and White Horse were the closest, right outside of the research facility. Isabella reached hers first, grabbing the lift cable to take her up to the cockpit. She sat down and pulled up her communication line. "I'll cover Wufei and Edan."

Quatre and Heero reached their suits as well, each covering either Zechs or Trowa. "There's no point in sticking around," said Quatre, "we need to escape, back to Swift Trillion. We can expose CSO, and start a revolution! We'll take our first major steps towards freedom!" He seemed to be forcing himself to concentrate on the good, since most of their mission had been a failure.

"Listen to me," Wufei placed his hands on either side of Edan's shoulders, "what is done, is done. You must be strong now, or it is all a waste. Swear that you are not going to try to run back into the base." She just stared to the side. He shook her, causing her to look up at him. "Swear it, woman!" She nodded. "I will watch you go up to your cock pit. I will go to Nataku only after."

Edan nodded reluctantly, but went to her lift cable as well.

Shaking his head and muttered to himself about frustrating women, Chang also returned to his suit.

"Isabella," Heero replied over the com, "can you put up the cloaking device to throw off the dolls while we escape?"

"Yes," Isabella sighed, "just hold them off so I can get my block going."

"Roger," Heero replied.

"Guys," Noin joined them, using her gun to shoot down dolls coming towards them, "I cut off the communication lines, but they're still coming. I'm guessing that they must have been programmed to attack after you entered the base. Maybe they were hoping to destroy everyone inside."

"So they were waiting for us," Zechs growled, raising his tuning fork-like blaster and shooting an approaching doll. "How did they know we were coming?"

"We're going to have to think about that later," added Duo, who had just reached his own suit. "Time to get back to the ship." He launched into the air first, and Trowa took off after him. Isabella put up the block and launched.

"As long as we can get far enough away from the thermal detectors, the dolls can't follow," said White Horse's pilot. She caught up with Duo, who turned around to protect the young lady from an attacking doll.

Noin and Zechs caught up, as did Heero. Quatre got into the air, only after a bit of a struggle with some enemies.

"Edan, get off the ground. Now," demanded Heero. She ' _apparently_ ' didn't ' _hear'_ him. "Wufei…"

"Woman! We're not stupid enough to leave you for last. Join the others, or I will drag you up myself," Wufei shouted.

Edan had been in a close combat fight with a doll. Hearing Wufei, she stabbed the doll and looked at Altron. Red Horse slowly launched into the air and went to join the others.

"She actually listens to you," Heero commented after temporarily closing the line down. He was speaking only to Wufei. "It's useful."

"If that is what you believe," replied Chang, who also left the ground. "I do not like running from a battle. If we are leaving, then let us leave." He turned, and only Wing Zero was left on the ground.

000

"Well, this turned out to be a disaster," Duo commented, sitting back on the deck and taking a swig of his beer. When they returned empty handed, Howard had known something went wrong. He pulled out the alcohol without even being asked.

"All those people…" Quatre would have been drinking with everyone else, had his religion permitted it. However, he could not. He was forced to stare at the bottle of scotch that Trowa was pouring from.

Isabella was leaning on a table, her head on her arm, staring at a beer she couldn't drink. The taste, for her first, was horrible. "I never thought they would activate the patients like that. I just…" She sighed and used her other hand to play with her hair.

"We have to expose CSO if we want this to not be in vain," added Trowa, setting the bottle down the table next to him. He had originally hoped to snag the whiskey, but Noin and Zechs had taken it before returning to their room.

"Here's some more. Had to dig this out of hiding. Some of the guys kept getting into my stuff…" Howard sat down under the covered desk. Another few bottles of beer, a bottle of Jack Daniels, and some wine had arrived. "Where's Heero? Edan?"

"No idea," mumbled Duo, "maybe they've turned into zombies." He had nursed his bite wound, but continuously looked at it, as if he expected some sudden change in flesh color.

"For the last time," Isabella groaned, "they weren't zombies. You aren't going to turn into one!"

"Heero's getting in touch with Relena to tell her about the change in plans," Quatre replied, tilting his empty water glass, causing the ice to hit the sides. Trowa reached across the tabletop to hand him a bottle of water. "Edan seemed to just want to be left alone outside."

"Fools," Wufei muttered as he walked into the room. He went to the table that Isabella sat at and grabbed two glasses while she glared back up at him.

"Haven't you just become so buddy-buddy with her," she snapped, "and here I thought she was just a woman."

" _You_ are just a woman," he replied bitterly. Wufei picked up the bottle of Jack Daniels and left the group behind.

"Would it be too presumptuous to say that Wufei has become rather attached to Miss Edan?" Quatre asked with a raised brow as he sipped his now refilled glass.

"I'd say that's pretty accurate," answered Trowa, "I dare say that he prefers her to us most of the time."

"In the end, he's still just a guy. He's found a woman who can keep up with him and can fight for the same justice. He's probably completely smitten," Duo laughed, but quickly pouted when everyone looked at him in disbelief. "Okay. I'm not sure about smitten, but you have to admit, I'm half right."

There were a few moments of silence.

"He should have met her when she was still stubborn and hard to control," Isabella mumbled and put her head back down, "maybe he wouldn't have liked her so much."

000

Wufei took a seat next to Edan without asking and quietly poured her a glass of whiskey. She took it and brought it to her mouth, not giving him so much as a glance.

The pair sat silently, staring out over the dark ocean, illuminated by just the thick, crescent moon. "I must ask for a favor," he said, his voice showing his discomfort with asking, "I believe my shoulder has been displaced from the pipe."

Edan looked at him, her light green eyes reflecting in the moonlight (temporarily catching him off guard, since even he had to admit that they would have possibly been her most attractive feature, had they not always looked so lifeless). She nodded and pointed towards a spot right in front of her, indicating for him to sit.

Placing their drinks on the permanently bolted-in-place table between them, Wufei stood and sat down directly in front of Edan's chair, cross legged. She leaned forward, her own legs on either side of his torso, and placed her hands on his shoulder. She felt around for a moment, finding the dislocation, and choosing the best way to apply pressure.

Wufei closed his eyes and exhaled, bracing himself for the discomfort he was sure to feel. When he tried clearing his mind, his thoughts went to the feminine hands pressing against his skin. They calloused from fighting, but warm and much smaller than his own hands. Frowning, he tried to shake the thought. Instead the repressed memory of walking into the woman's bathroom floated back to him. He opened his eyes, ready to tell Edan to forget the whole thing, when she smoothly popped his shoulder back into place.

Inhaling sharply with a groan, he stood quickly, rotating his arm a few times. "You killed that soldier—the one you had feelings for," Wufei said after a few moments.

Edan picked up her drink and took a deep gulp as Wufei took his seat back. She could apparently feel the burn of the alcohol, by the expression she made. It did not stop her from taking another gulp, and then another.

"You could have tried to save him."

She finished the drink and she shook her head, picking up the notebook she carried with her from beneath her chair. Flipping her notebook open on her lap, she help a pen in one hand and her glass in another.

_It was him or you_.

"Hm," Wufei hummed, "what if you made the wrong choice?"

_I could save you. He was gone._

"What about all of the others?"

_I did the only thing I could._

Wufei reached up and rubbed his shoulder. It was stiff, but at least it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as before. "You knew those people, didn't you? It wasn't just him."

She did not respond. Her head was slightly bowed with her hair covering her face from his view.

"It's acceptable to grieve. What CSO has done is a monstrosity, and your actions were honorable. You gave those you cared about a humane end."

Edan turned to look at him, her mouth slightly opened, as if she wanted to say something.

"I do not see it as weakness if you want to cry," he replied, seriously. Even he had shed tears on occasion. "You have my permission."

Almost instantly, tears started to flow down her cheeks. Apparently, she was shocked at her own emotion. She quickly looked away from Wufei, the notebook sliding to the ground. Leaning forward, Edan placed her elbows on her legs and her head into her palms. As she continued to cry, her shoulders shook uncontrollably, but there was no sound.

Without thinking, Wufei reached his hand out to place it on her back—but he caught himself. He struggled internally for a few moments before settling anyhow. His hand rested on her right shoulder blade while he returned to his drink.

000

"Unbelievable," Isabella muttered dryly. She was peeking out of the doorway, Duo leaning over her, and Trowa leaning over him. "She's… crying."

"Maybe he wasn't lying when he said she was laughing that one time," Duo said, squeezing the blonde's arms. "She's like an entirely different person right now. I would not have expected that when we met her."

"It supports the idea that he is more attached to her than he would like us all to know," added Trowa, bringing his hand to his chin.

"Guys!" Quatre looked at them from his spot far away from the doorway. He was not spying on the other pair. "You shouldn't be so rude. He'll be very angry if he catches you, and then he'll leave her crying! Just sit back down!" Heavyarms's pilot was the first to turn back and join the pleading Quatre.

Isabella continued to watch for a few moments, her jaw clenched and a frown securely in place. She did not like what she was witnessing.

000

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: I hope that was at least a little bit more action for you. The medical facility scene is that which sparked the entire story.
> 
> Thank you all for sticking with me thus far! It may be a while before I can update again… Please let me know what you think! I can try to squeeze out another before the convention I volunteer for comes up!
> 
> Ever your loyal servant,
> 
> A.F


	12. Part I: Verse XII

After Colony: Revelation

Verse XII

"Welcome home, Milliardo." Relena stood politely at the entrance of the Sanc Academy. "I'm relieved to see you and Noin are doing well." Both her brother and her former advisor bowed and then hugged her. "However, I cannot say I am happy to see all parties in attendance here." Her words were murmured and meant only for the two other sets of ears and they embraced.

"Don't worry, Isabella has promised to behave," Zechs, or Milliardo, replied. He backed away so that she could address everyone again.

"I'm saddened by the news of the CSO patients. I wish that we would have been able to save at least a few…" Relena sighed and clasped her hands together tightly.

"What happened was something that none of us, noneof us, could have predicted," Heero stepped up and said. "All we can do now is use your influence to get both the Earth and the colonies to take a stand against CSO."

Relena nodded and turned slightly. "Many leaders have already started to convene here in secret, and I've agreed to hold a party for all who have risked attendance. If CSO discovers it, it will be under the guise of my birthday. Please, relax and use everything we've provided for your comfort," said the ruler of the Sanc kingdom, placing her arm out to indicate that they could enter into the Academy—a castle like structure used for numerous lectures and events.

Heero led the way, only leaving Zechs and Noin with Relena. "You'll be horrified when you see the footage Duo was able to secure."

000

"I hate these things," Duo muttered to himself, adjusting the collar of his tux. "I can't believe I have to wear this." He stood in front of a full length mirror, scowling at his reflection.

Quatre walked up behind him and adjusted his own bowtie, smiling. "Well, Miss Isabella will appreciate a good looking, cleaned up escort," the blonde chuckled and nudged Duo.

"She better…"

"Remember," Heero said, pulling on his jacket in one swift motion, as if he were a regular James Bond, "no trouble. We came back empty handed, so we need the support of the nation's leaders who can start cutting off CSO's resources."

"I wouldn't say empty handed," mumbled the braided male, who glared at Heero, "or didn't you see what was on the discs I grabbed? Pretty heavy stuff."

"Why isn't Trowa here?" Heero asked as he completely ignored Duo's grumbling.

"Oh, he's with Zechs. I was supposed to go with him to get a special surprise for Noin. Relena asked me to sit in earlier on a meeting though, so I couldn't go. I'm sure they'll be ready in time for the start of the celebration," chuckled Quatre.

"And Wu-man?"

"He wanted to get ready alone. He's been in meditation for most of the day. I insisted that he wear the formal outfit I had shipped in for him," said Quatre as he went to the door to start to head out.

"He's supposed to be representing the old L5 region. There are political leaders who still hold much respect for the Dragon Clan and may be more supportive if they see him on board," Heero added when saw Duo's confused expression. As he spoke, he checked his gun, and then shoved it under his coat haphazardly.

000

"Edan! Put your dress on!" Isabella pounded on the dressing room door, where her friend/guard had locked herself in. "I can't believe you! You have never been this defiant of me before! Am I going to have to reprogram you to listen to me!?"

"What's going on, Isabella? You're making so much noise!" Noin even left her room to see why the usually lazy blonde girl was causing such a commotion. The women were in the wing of the Academy that Relena resided in—it was the female dorm section. The rooms did not have connecting bathrooms, but instead, there was one large room to share. It had numerous showers, sinks, and stalls, all pristinely clean and fancy. Attached to it was a sitting room with a three paneled mirror that the women had been using to get ready.

And Edan had decided not to come out.

"She won't leave! And I have to do her hair! She's going to make us late!" Isabella stomped her foot and crossed her arms.

"It's insane how similar you and Duo can be," Noin muttered before knocking on the door softly. "Edan, I know you probably feel awkward in a dress since you usually wear a military uniform to these things, but you've got to deal with it. You aren't a CSO soldier anymore, and you're attending as a guest, with a date and all. Please come out."

There was silence, and then the door opened.

A very unhappy brunette walked out from the dressing room, holding her heels in her hand.

"See that? You look great," Noin smiled, "just let Isabella do your hair, and we'll be able to go down to dinner."

Isabella stood with her hands on her hips, tapping her white heels. Her dress was a cocktail dress in light blue, her favorite dress color, with pearls decorating her top half and gathered straps holding it up. She had spent the day with Noin and Edan, shopping around for formal dresses for the banquet and ball. "Maybe I just will reprogram you…"

The eldest of the three women, Noin, wore a black, strapless gown, studded along the top, waist, and bottom. It resembled a Grecian style and flattered her build. Edan's dress was the plainest of them all, being a red halter top with a deep slit on the left side of her skirt. She was dragging a shawl along behind her.

She hadn't even picked it out; Isabella chose the dress. Noin was concerned that the scars on the young woman's back would be off putting to some of the guests, which was why she suggested the cover up.

"Pick that up, you're going to get it dirty!" Isabella snapped at Edan, who just lifted it higher, letting it graze the marble. "I know you're doing this on purpose. Who would believe that a mute could be such a smart ass?"

Noin rolled her eyes and took the fabric, helping to wrap it properly around Edan's shoulders.

By the time they were done (Noin was enjoying the female bonding time quite a bit, since she had never experienced it in the past), Isabella's hair was half up with pearls intertwined, and Edan's was completely flipped to one side, leaving the left side of her neck exposed and covering the slot in her head. "Here," said the former lieutenant as she walked over to the vanity Edan sat at, "we'll add this. Make you look less menacing." She placed a white lily into Edan's hair. "Now, come on you two, let's get going."

The eldest led the way, heading for the Academy's staircase. As much as she felt out of her element, she was extremely happy to be spending time with Zechs. She reached the steps first and walked down with a smirk dancing on her lips. The blonde Peacecraft prince was already at the bottom, waiting to take her to the banquet hall. He was trying his hardest not to look smug.

"I haven't seen you in a dress for… well, it's been years," Zechs said and took her arm like a gentleman.

"Yeah, well, wait until you see what's under the dress," Noin muttered, placing a kiss on his cheek and earning a chuckle in response.

"Great, as if I didn't already want this night to be over," he said as they started to the hall.

"I can't believe that braided fool isn't already here," Isabella groaned from the top of the stairs, "I told him to be here at exactly seven—"

"You were saying?" Duo appeared at her side, his hands in his pockets. "See? I wouldn't leave a pretty girl waiting."

The blonde young lady couldn't help up smile a little. "Yes, well… You're cutting it close though," she said and tried to look angry. Her date took her arm and gently pulled her to the staircase.

"I'm starving, let's go get this thing started so we can chow down."

"Really, all you think of is food…" The two started down the steps together. Looking over her shoulder, Isabella winked at Edan.

The silent woman stayed in the shadows, stuck in a fight with herself. She didn't want to go down. She didn't want to attend as just a woman. But she was unofficially Wufei's date. He had not asked her, but he had insisted that she attend. All she really wanted was to sit alone with Red Horse and watch the security footage that everyone was keeping from her.

But no. She was in a ridiculous dress at a ridiculous party, feeling overall ridiculous.

Edan peeked around the corner, only to quickly turn back. Wufei was at the bottom of the stairs, dressed in a more traditional Chinese outfit for the celebration.

Wufei was lost in his own thoughts, unconcerned with the fact that his 'date' was running late (although he preferred to think of her as his partner; if they could spar together, they could dance together – in the end, it would be beneficial for the two to be able to synchronize their movements because it would carry over to the battlefield). While he was preparing for the evening, the realization had hit him that he had not donned any Chinese formal wear since his wedding, almost seven years earlier. Though there was a hardly a day that went by that he did not think of Meiran and the rest of his clan, it was still a heavy realization.

It only made him wonder why he had allowed Quatre to talk him into it now. He could have easily insisted upon wearing a tuxedo, even though he would have been very uncomfortable, and put the night out of his mind forever.

Placing a hand to his head, he muttered, "This is just ridiculous." Wufei turned to walk away and flee from the evening, when he saw the silent woman descending the staircase to meet him. He swallowed. It was too late for him to back out now.

"You look… nice," he said stiffly and offered out his arm. Awkwardly, she took it. "Do you have any way of communicating?" Edan shook her head, her slightly wavy hair moving back and forth with each movement. "I suppose that simplifies things."

The two walked towards the banquet hall, perfectly in step with one another. However, it was more of a march than an easy stride.

000

After everyone was settled in, Heero walked in to the large room, which had large white marble floors and peaceful, pastel décor, escorting Relena to the head of the table. He pulled out her seat for her and the pink clad princess stood in front of it. "Everyone, I'd like to thank you for coming out to attend my birthday dinner. It pleases me to see that everyone is doing well, given the circumstances. Please, enjoy the food and good company, and I hope I will have a chance to chat with each one of you." With a polite curtsy, Relena sat down, and her date slid the chair in to make her comfortable.

Heero proceeded to make his way down the table to sit across from Quatre and Trowa. As he did, there were numerous whispers. Though his dark blue eyes gazed directly at his chair as he walked, he paid complete attention to every work spoken. Most involved the words Gundamand pilot.

Waiters started entering from a side door, brining trays of food and drink for the guests' consumption.

"Miss Relena," Governor Aucht said quietly. "I have reviewed the footage. If everyone is as appalled as I am by it, there will be instantaneous rejection of CSO. I cannot believe that soldiers would continue to fight for Adelphie if they knew what he had done to their comrades. And to think there could be sleeper cells waiting to act amongst the civilians." He quickly silenced himself when a waiter stepped up to place a plate of strawberry salad in front of him.

When the hired help continued on down the line, much further down, actually, Governor Nocha, a petite woman in her fifties with her husband next to her, quickly leaned forward as well. "If only there had been some survivors. It would have helped rally support if there was a figurehead," she added, and her significant other nodded his balding head.

"I wish we would have been able to save even one," Relena replied solemnly, "but everyone was fatally affected, and CSO destroyed all physical evidence we would have had."

"Not all," commented General Ein. He was a former Romefeller member, who retired after Treize's death. "There's at least one severely modified person left. She's sitting about eight people down from you, Nocha." Ein, with his iron gray hair and stern expression, continued to pick at his salad, moving all of the berries to the side, while Governor Nocha, her husband, Relena, and Aucht all counted down eight seats to see who was sitting there.

"You mean that woman? The one in the red dress?" Mrs. Nocha asked curiously.

"She's Isabella Adelphie's bodyguard," Relena answered. They all looked at her, shocked. "Yes, yes, I know. But everyone has assured me that she is working with the rebels. She even helped rescue my brother. I must at least commend her for that. It is so relieving to see him sitting at the other head seat."

"Well, if you say so," Nocha sighed, "we have complete faith in you, Relena." The older woman smiled slightly, patting the princess's arm.

000

"Excuse me," Relena announced, standing up to get the group's attention, "if everyone has had their fill, the rest of the evening's guests should have arrived by now. So, we can move into the ballroom, if that is all right. Parlor rooms are also open, if you would like to sit and relax."

The banquet was only for the highest ranking members. However, to make it appear to be more like a party, Relena had invited along some of her own friends for the evening ball. Of course, there were many others who would be attending in addition.

Chairs started shuffling, and chatter picked back up. The night had a light-hearted atmosphere. Everything seemed to be going well.

"You know," the Sanc princess said to Heero as he stepped up to her, "this will be the first time we've danced in the proper attire. Before, we were in our school uniforms." She smiled and he shrugged. Apparently, that was enough for her, and they joined the others as they headed into the hallway.

Heero, of course, was still quite tense despite there being no obvious threat. It was not in his nature to relax in a group of people, especially with so many having military backgrounds.

There were people already in the ballroom, all of whom started clapping as the ranking procession entered. Music was cued up from the live band in the corner, and the couples immediately littered the dance floor. Relena and Heero were in the center. Her friends couldn't help but to swoon over the apparent couple.

"So," Duo chuckled slightly, "dancing really isn't my thing…" He rubbed the back of his head and tried to back away from Isabella.

She glared at him and grabbed his arm. "Nice try; you're dancing. I never get to have a date—you can't back out now!"

Though he groaned, he allowed himself to be pulled out to the dance floor. He knew the basics enough to struggle through.

Noin and Zechs didn't hesitate to jump right in. "The last time we danced was at our final military ball as trainees, remember that? We couldn't have been much older than your sister and Heero. Probably younger," the woman said, letting Zechs guide their movements.

"We were probably sixteen or seventeen," he replied, placing his hand on her hip.

"Children, really."

Some tried to stay to the sidelines, like Quatre and Trowa. Dorothy, who had arrived too late for the banquet because of a hold up at the shuttle port, wouldn't have that. "Well, Trowa, you look much better in a tux than a waiter's outfit," she sighed, stepped up to straighten his bowtie. She stood out in her gold and black ball gown, but what was to be expected from the cunning young woman? "Quatre, come dance with me."

He didn't even have a chance to object. He pleaded with his eyes for his friend to save him, but the eldest pilot shook his head with a smile, and went off after a familiar face.

"Lady Une," he called out to a lovely woman, having the bartender pour her a drink. She turned around, slightly surprised.

"Oh, Trowa, how are you?" Though she was smiling, she looked slightly sad. The pilot didn't have to ask to know that she was missing Treize.

"Well enough," he replied, "if you want to hold off on your drink, maybe you'd like to dance?"

The dark haired woman paused, but nodded. "Why thank you, I'd like that," she answered, waving to the bartender to signal that she would be back. The two walked off and took up a spot near the awkwardly laughing Quatre.

It left just Edan and Wufei. They stood against the wall like a nervous couple at prom. "It would be inappropriate for us not to dance," said Wufei seriously, thought he really wasn't committed to the idea. He could be talked out of it.

Not that she'd be doing a whole lot of that.

Looking over at the silent woman, she was intently watching the dancing couples. "You've never danced before, have you?" He commented with a raised brow, but she didn't show any sign of hearing him. Wufei knew that she did. She had an intense expression (in comparison to her usually empty look), with a clenched jaw and slightly narrowed eyes that followed the movements of her targets. He had seen it before—when she intentionally took his blows during sparring matches—and he had long since deciphered what, exactly, it was that her expression meant. She was learning.

Wufei was about ready to walk away and join another crowd, in hopes of uncovering some useful information, when Edan's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. He reflexively pulled away and slid his foot back, falling into an almost defensive stance. She reached out again, slowly, offering her hand and nodding in the direction of the center floor.

He felt a sudden pang of frustration as he looked at the woman. The small twitches of her mouth, the slight crease in her brow… she clearly wanted to communicate something to him, but could not. Wufei had no choice but to take her hand and lead her into the grouping.

"Have you seen the footage, Lady Une?" Trowa asked the former colonel when he and Quatre were finally able to pass Dorothy off on another visitor. They stood in one of the more desolate corners of the grand room, sipping their drinks slowly.

Une nodded and looked away for a moment. She was ashamed to say that part of her, the part that she worked very hard to suppress, had a morbid curiosity when it came to the CSO experiments. "It was like something out of a horror movie. All it would take is one leak, and human rights activists would be up in a frenzy. The actual procedures are sickening enough, but to think that soldiers would put two, starving, mentally unstable people in a locked room together and just watch while they…" she couldn't finish. Shaking her head, she gulped down her drink, as if to wash the images away.

"I know… Adelphie seems to enjoy getting to play God. He named his main projects after the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Surely that cannot bode well for the future of humanity." Quatre sighed and looked down at his soda-filled glass.

The group stood around silently for a few moments, watching the crowd as it moved. Finally, Lady Une spoke again. "You know that some of the diplomats want a demonstration, don't you?"

They could see the ambassador by the name of Aucht speaking with Relena and Heero, his head down low. He was trying to keep his conversation hushed. "Yes, we heard the murmurs over dinner… I can't imagine that Isabella will be willing to do one though. It could be dangerous. Edan is…" Quatre paused and thought over his words, "very hard to control once she's been tapped into."

Heero turned to look at them from across the room and gave one curt nod. Lady Une straightened up immediately and set her now empty glass on one of the wall tables. "It looks like they've made the decision anyhow. Who will be the one to tell the other two ladies?"

"They're going into a parlor room," Trowa said, "so likely, it's us."

The woman left, going after Heero and Relena with the select diplomats. Governor Aucht was there, of course, as was Governor Nocha. There were four others as well – others who were from prestigious countries, with the means to do some damage if they chose to embargo CSO.

"Will the Adelphie girl comply?" Nocha asked, once the doors were closed.

"She will have no choice, I supposed," another woman added, "if she is in the protection of the Sanc Kingdom and its allies, then she will be obligated to do her part. If she resists, well, then it is clear that she is not as dedicated to the resistance as she would like us to believe."

Relena waited until the tense conversation died down and said, "We should know shortly if she will provide us with a demonstration. Those who have been housing her say she has been very compliant, so we hope that if they approach her, she will agree. If you would care for them, we have some refreshments behind the bar. Heero would be glad to serve you, if you would like. I do hope you understand why I do not have a server in here, of course."

Outside of the parlor, Wufei was trying to mask his annoyance with his partner. She immediately took to guiding the two of them into the heart of the dance floor. How dare she, a woman, lead in a dance? It was infuriating.

Edan seemed to be trying to make a point, however, and it wasn't that she was in control. She continuously made sure to be within sight of one particular couple. She would look at Wufei intently, then over to the other pair. It was an average looking man and woman, nothing stood out to Wufei about them. She was pretty and petite, wearing a steel colored cocktail dress, and he was average height and average build. Just… average.

As much as she may have tried to communicate something to him, Wufei simply didn't understand.

"Wufei," Quatre said from behind the awkwardly dancing pair, "would you and Miss Edan please step over here and talk us?" Wufei stopped in the middle of the floor and narrowed his eyes at the other man.

"I have the distinct feeling that I will not like what you want to speak about."

Quatre frowned and shrugged, displaying his guilt. He turned and walked back over to Trowa, who was standing with Isabella while she threw a fit. Edan gave one last, long look at the woman in the steely dress and her partner before she followed after Quatre.

Wufei had started to trail behind, but when he noticed the suspicious party-goers making their way in the opposite direction, he decided to leave Edan with the other two.

"Where is he… oh, I suppose it doesn't matter," Quatre sighed and shook his head. "Edan, some of the governors are insisting on seeing a… demonstration. They said that they had wished someone who had undergone the CSO procedures had survived the facility. Someone mentioned to them that technically, someone did…and…well….they're in the parlor. They want Isabella to connect."

"Which is a terrible idea," the other woman snapped and crossed her arms angrily, "we're under observation from CSO satellites, and tapping into your chips may cause just enough of a spark for them to access you as well. And, on top of all of that, I've already had a few drinks tonight."

"You're underage, you shouldn't be drinking at all," Quatre said in a tone that should have been accompanied by a finger shake.

Isabella scowled, "It isn't as if they were exactly carding here anyhow."

"Does it matter if you've had a drink or two?" Trowa asked, moving the conversation along. It wasn't the time to get caught up on the legality of things, especially when they were contemplating tapping into a human experiment.

"Well…I don't know…My father always said drinking could affect my abilities. I don't know if he meant in the typical sense of inebriation, or…"

Trowa sighed, "So there's absolutely no way you will do it?"

The blonde woman put her hand to her head and groaned, pacing around in a circle for a few moments. Finally she dropped her shoulders in defeat. "It's up to Edan. If she agrees, then I will do it."

The three sets of eyes turned on Edan, who stared back. They stayed locked in a stare down until she finally chose to walk away on her own, in the direction of the parlor room. "I will go get my computer," Isabella muttered and stalked off. Trowa followed after her, just to be sure.

The room fell quiet when Edan walked in, Quatre shutting the door behind her. He nodded to Relena, who momentarily stood taller. "Everyone, it seems that Isabella and Edan have agreed to provide us with a demonstration on how CSO uses their human test subjects. While we wait for Isabella to return with her equipment, allow me to take this moment to have Edan confirm a few things for all of us."

Some of the governors took places on the fancy loveseats and elegantly carved chairs. "Perhaps we should wait for Miss Isabella to return first," Quatre said sternly, feeling the tension in the atmosphere. "Edan has no way to communicate. It would be a rather one sided conversation."

"A simply nod or head shake would be fine. We can stick to closed questions. Edan, am I correct in saying that you are the first successful project of CSO?" Relena asked, stepping forward. Edan supplied a curt nod. "There were many attempts before, and after you?" Again, a nod.

"There are others, yes?" Governor Nocha quickly spoke up, "others who are walking around amongst us? Others who can be activated to follow orders from CSO? That is what the report we received read…"

It took Edan a moment to respond, but she did nod. Quatre suspected that she would have liked to elaborate on such a topic, but that ability simply wasn't there.

"And if CSO were to be able to…connect…with you again, you would be forced to obey them once more?" Relena's words betrayed a certain cautiousness, as if she were afraid Edan would start attacking for her mere suggestion. The former soldier's jaw clenched, and she nodded.

Suddenly Quatre interjected strongly, "But you're confident that Isabella can control you, in the event that something unexpected should happen, right, Edan?" Though perhaps Relena really was trying to be thorough, the pilot felt that the inquisition simply wasn't fair. It almost appeared as if the Sanc leader were trying to intentionally keep the governors on edge.

Edan stared at Relena, and though she showed no change in emotion, there was a sudden spike in the room's atmosphere. She nodded slowly.

"And if not," Heero said, "there's always Wufei."

Isabella entered a few moments later, muttering to herself. When she realized how silent the room was, she plastered a smile on her face. "Well, let's get this over with, shall we?" She moved across the room to the center coffee table and set her computer down. After lowering herself, her legs beneath her, she opened it and started it up. "If you could, please clear this one couch. I will have Edan sit here."

The two women sitting on the couch immediately stood and scrambled to stand behind the other loveseat, whispering to themselves. Edan, who had continued staring at Relena until that moment, moved to the white couch.

Isabella typed away until her programs were up and running. She plugged her headpiece in and adjusted the dangerously sharp optical point before waving to Edan. The other woman hunched over, holding back the left side of her hair so that Isabella could connect Edan into the computer via cord.

The women who had moved behind the couch gasped, looking away when they realized that the cord plugged right into Edan's skull, just like Isabella's headpiece.

"Before I activate Project Red Horse, I must once again state what a horrible idea this is. I have given my warning, stating that we are within range of a CSO satellite, and they may use the opportunity to interfere with my connection. Is everyone sure they still wish for me to go through with this demonstration?"

There were a few nods; overall, no one objected.

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you," Isabella muttered and resumed her typing. Heero moved forward, slightly blocking Relena, while Quatre took the door, and Trowa moved towards some of the governors. "Project Red Horse: Activate."

Edan immediately sat upright, her spine completely straight as she stared ahead, straight through the ambassadors sitting across from her.

"Well, what would you like me to make her do?" Isabella sighed. "Stand on her head? Dance ballet?"

"What would that prove?" Governor Aucht asked. "She could do all of that with her own free will."

"Fine, how about she chokes herself until she turns blue?" To make her point, she entered in the command and Edan did just that. Her hand shot to her throat without any hesitation and squeezed. Isabella simply allowed Edan to continue, until the other woman started to twitch.

Relena finally took a step forward. "That's enough, you can stop, your point is made."

Isabella gave the stand down, and Edan's hand fell back to her side. She sat upright again, her chest rising and falling unevenly while she tried to regain her breath without breaking herforced composure.

"Since I have manually severed as much of the wireless connection as possible, she cannot do too much without being connected to my system. One of the only things I cannot make her do is speak. CSO did not intend to remove her speech ability; it was a side effect from undergoing the final stage of neuro surgery. If you would like to take this time to examine her, feel free. Until she receives other orders, she will remain stationary." Isabella finished speaking and put her head in the palm of her hand. "Seriously, poke her, prod her, hit her, she won't move. She can't. She will hardly even register the pain."

One by one, the ambassadors moved closer, reaching out to touch the immobile girl. She did not blink or twitch. One of the women took her hand and dug her nails in to pinch, enough to draw blood. Edan did not show any sign that she noticed the pain.

"You could have your way with her, theoretically, though I would deactivate Project Red Horse before I would allow something like that to happen. If you were to want a more in depth demonstration, I would suggest waiting for a chance when we are clear of CSO's satellites so that I can reactivate—" no one looked at Isabella until she stopped speaking.

She was staring straight ahead, her mouth slightly agape.

"Isabella?" Quatre asked and took a step forward, his brows furrowed in concern. She fell forward, hitting her head roughly off of the table, where she remained with her right cheek against the smooth surface.

Edan pulled the connection to the computer from her head as she lurched forward, grabbing the nearest governor, the one who had pinched her, and pinned her against the table.

Heero was the first one into the fight, as the other ambassadors scrambled away. He pulled Edan off of the woman. As he did so, her right hand shot back, balled in a first, to try to get him in the nose. He dodged and grabbed her arm roughly. She brought her left hand down while she twisted and punched him in the stomach. Heero grunted and sucked in, but held on to her tightly. Her heeled foot came down on his calf roughly, one, twice, and then he let go of her arms to grab her leg.

With a slight jump, she brought her other leg, which had a wide range of movement with the deep slit in the dress, to his face.

His nose was broken instantly, and he stumbled backwards.

Heero had never had the pleasure of being in a fight with her. He had certainly not expected the amount of uninhibited strength she showed, or how dirty she was willing to fight when required. He may have fared better, if he wasn't so concerned with keeping her away from Relena, who may or may not have been Edan's next target.

Since Trowa and Quatre were tending to Isabella and the governors, Edan was free to head straight for the parlor doors and throw them open.

Trowa finished helping one of the governors stand and was soon running out the door after Edan. With his running start, he leaped forward to tackle her to the ground. She heard him come out the door, apparently, because she turned around. As they hit the ground roughly, she brought her left elbow and proceeded to bring it down on the side of Trowa's head.

The party goers stopped to stare, confused looks passing through the crowd. Of course, to them, it looked like the young man was attacking the woman. "Leave the lady alone," one of the brave gentlemen from Relena's school days shouted. He hurried over to try to pry Trowa off of Edan, thinking he was being a hero.

"No, you don't understand," the pilot said through gritted teeth, trying to maneuver himself in a position to grapple, "get out of here!"

The gentleman wedged his arms beneath Trowa, using all of his strength to pull at the pilot. There was just enough space for Edan to slide her knees between their bodies and vault him away. Her savior continued to hold Trowa back long enough for her to stand, her shoes now discarded.

Wufei followed after his targets, but had to make a choice between the two when they split. The man seemed like more of an immediate threat, especially since he seemed to be going for the ballroom doors. Maneuvering through the crowd, he did his best to remain in pursuit.

Unfortunately, sneaking around had never been a strong point of his.

Once he entered the hallway, Wufei could see a shadow move against the moonlight in a dark hallway. Wufei made the decision to leave the safety of the lit entryway and take his chances on his own in the side corridors. Treading as silently as he could, he turned the corner to see a gun pointed at his head.

"You shouldn't have followed me," the tuxedoed man stated seriously. "Now I'll have to kill you."

Wufei's eyes narrowed as he hummed in amusement. His hand shot out, smashing his target's arm into the stone wall. The gun clanged to the ground, but did not go off. The pilot twisted the man's arm around and pinned him to the ground, on his stomach. "If you are a CSO spy, you're a poor excuse for one."

The man laughed and cringed in pain at the same time. "Me? I'm not the spy, just the escort."

With a brief pause, Wufei brought his forearm down on the man's head, knocking him out instantly. He stood again, ready to search out the woman in the steel colored dress, but decided to take a moment to find a closet to hide the unconscious body. It one of the staff found him lying in the middle of the empty hall, panic would surely spread. Just as an added precaution, Wufei separated the gun from its clip and disposed of them in two plants on his way back to the ballroom.

Just as he was ready to start searching the balcony area, he heard a sudden silence fall behind him. Though he wanted to continue his search, Wufei decided instead to see whatever had disrupted the party.

Once he finally managed to squeeze to the front of the crowd, he watched as Trowa was thrown off of the woman, hitting the floor a few feet away. Beyond the pilot, Heero was being fussed over by Relena as blood poured down his face and on to his white tuxedo shirt.

"Wufei, she's been activated!" Trowa shouted, struggling with a blonde party goer (and injured ribs, it seemed) to stand up again.

Edan made a grab for the nearest governor, a middle aged man of Hispanic descent.

"Stand down," Wufei demanded, pulling the ambassador away before she could get a hold of him. "Control yourself, Edan, stop this madness." Wufei put himself in front of the group, drawing her aggression. He could see it, her struggle, flicker across her eyes for only a moment before she stalked towards him. It was almost like their exhibition match, except that neither had weapons and she was wearing a dress.

He was certainly glad he wore his traditional Chinese robes over the tuxedo, though he couldn't possibly tell that to Quatre. He was slightly weighed down by the layers but he would take that over the constricting suit jackets.

She spun around, but he caught her with an open palm, bracing himself against her momentum. Immediately, she rebounded and swung her bare leg up. Wufei grabbed her calf and tried to force her down. Edan threw her hands down to the floor, her angle giving her enough leverage to use to pull away from him and into a backbend.

Some guests clapped, as if they thought they display was for their entertainment. Others wisely started to disperse and remove any sharp objects from the vicinity.

Edan swept her leg down to knock his from under him, but Wufei jumped to the side and aimed a kick at her head. Though she managed to avoid it, she couldn't move fast enough to avoid him bring his heel down a mere inch from the side of her waist. She tried to put her hands behind her back and push herself away, though it was no use. He had the skirt of her dress nailed down.

"Fighting in a dress, I mean really…" Wufei muttered and grabbed her arms. Edan continued to struggle, almost breaking free, but Trowa managed to get away from the other man and help restrain her. Though Trowa did not know what Wufei had planned to stop her from fighting, he put his weight on her legs anyhow.

Wufei used his knees to keep her arms pinned down before he used his right forearm to start cutting off Edan's air supply. She jerked and coughed and choked, but he did not stop. He didn't know if a blow to the head would be enough to stop her, and he did not feel he could risk an attempt. Though trying to suffocate her was enough exactly part of his warrior way, he had to protect everyone else around him.

She stopped struggling, and he removed his weight from her body. "She's unconscious. If I understand correctly, she should be free from CSO's control when she awakens. She is trembling, like the night Duo and the Adelphie girl fell into the pool."

With one last look at the shaking woman, Wufei turned and headed back towards the balcony. He had to follow his lead.

Trowa exhaled deeply before scooping up the woman, delicately making sure that she was fully covered as he did so. The slit in her dress seemed to deepen at some point in the fight, and he felt the numerous eyes watching him awkwardly.

When he entered into the room again, he shifted Edan onto the couch she had previously sitting on. Once he was sure she wouldn't fall off, he turned to look at Quatre, then Heero.

"You shouldn't have brought them here," Relena said and frowned, using her handkerchief to try to stop the bleeding from the pilot's nose. "We need to get you to one of the powder rooms and clean you up. We can get a medic to look at that…"

Heero brushed her away, head back and fabric to his face, "I will be fine. I can take care of myself. And it was you who asked for a demonstration, you and the governors. Isabella told you it was a bad idea. You can't blame her. She probably didn't knock herself out on purpose. Go handle damage control."

He stalked away, his voice just barely hinting at his annoyance. Though whether he was annoyed with Edan or Relena, who could tell? He tried his best to avoid the guests, since some of them who spied him turned away with queasy expressions.

Relena and Quatre left Trowa shut in the room with the two unconscious women while they went to calm the crowds. "I assure you, everything is fine," the Sanc ruler announced clearly, "a bit of a fight broke out, and before we could break it up—"

"It that woman a spy?" From somewhere amidst the crowd, a male voice shouted out. "It took two men to contain that woman!"

"No, no," Quatre spoke up quickly, unsure of how Relena would respond due to her dislike for Isabella and Edan, "not a spy, but she is a well trained soldier and she is on our side. She believed that there was danger, but I can assure you, there is none."

As if on cue, there was a loud explosion from outside and a power outage inside. The guests screamed and started running about—most to the balcony to see what had caused the sudden burst.

Trowa exited the room, shutting the doors behind him, and immediately found Quatre (which was quite the feat in the dark room). "There are backup generators, aren't there?" The blonde young man looked for Relena, but he could not find her: she was already intermixed with the panicked crowd.

"Quatre, Trowa!" Noin called out from their right sides. They were running through the ballroom doors with flashlights. The men quickly rushed to join them. "Zechs was in the control room. He went to check on Rashid a little while ago before calling us in. He's looking into a security breech on the other side of the palace. CSO—they've got us surrounded. They've cut the power and the backup generators. They had someone on the inside."

"We have to start evacuating people. Either CSO shot at us and missed, or that was a warning shot. We cannot wait to find out." Quatre took one of the flashlights from Noin, recognizing that it was one of the emergency lights that were in most of the closets and plugged into sockets in some of the side rooms, and dived straight into the crowed to direct them to the planned emergency exit.

"It's a good thing that Heero thought to reroute the lift's power supply to the hangar generators when we were rebuilding," Noin shouted to Une and Trowa as they worked to shut the ballroom doors. They knew that the staff could get to the emergency exits on their own, but they would have to herd the guests in the correct direction. "We would surely be stuck trying to get everyone down below through the stairs."

Trowa looked over his shoulder to the dark masses heading through a set of staff doors by Quatre's orders before turning to the two women again. "I'm going to get Isabella and Edan. They're in the parlor room, unconscious. CSO's doing, I'm sure. I will try to carry both, though I'm not sure if I can manage—" there was another explosion. This time, it shattered the windows that led to the balcony.

He didn't bother finishing his sentence, and instead ran straight for the parlor room door.

When he entered, he was surprised to find that only one woman was in the room. Isabella was lying in the same position, but Edan was nowhere to be found. "Damn," Trowa muttered and leaned down. He moved the blonde woman around just slightly so that he could scoop her up and place her laptop between himself and her. He would have to be careful, but he thought it was better than leaving it behind for anyone else to find.

The room was emptying out quickly, now that there was broken glass all over half of the room. As Trowa hurried over to join the exodus, he realized that he hadn't seen Duo since they had originally pulled Isabella aside.

000

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's about where the action picks up. From here on out, there is a lot more action and plot, and quite a bit will change. I hope you will all enjoy!
> 
> Good night, readers, good night.
> 
> A.F


	13. Part I: Verse XIII

_After Colony: Revelation_

_**Verse XIII** _

Wufei looked up and down the balcony for the woman in the steel colored dress, but he could not find her. He took a moment to lean over, just to see if she could have somehow managed to jump down to the ground below. It was simply too high though, and he did not think it would be the most likely route for someone who was on a mission.

That being said, he did happen to spy some movement in the distance. Out in the direction where the cars were parked, he could see some bodies weaving around the cars. It was too far and too dark to see who it could be, though he supposed it could've been some of the chauffeurs intermingling while they waited for their employers.

The party goers still on the balcony allowed him to pass through with ease, especially since any of them were curious as to why the music has stopped inside of the ballroom. He moved down the length of the stone walkway and found that on eht every far end, one of the doors was unlocked. The guest did not have free roam of the palace, and the door should have been secured.

"Hmm…" Wufei carefully pushed it open and slipped inside

It was very still in the far section of the Palace. Wufei did not see any sign that someone had gone down the hallway, but he was sure that someone had a reason for breaking open the door. He glided down the corridors silently, stopping near each door until he deemed they were empty.

After going down some fifty yards or so, he thought the heard whispering coming from one of the rooms. The door was shut, but against the silence of the rest of the wing, the hushed voice still caught his attention. It was a woman's voice.

Exhaling deeply, Wufei placed his hand on the carved handle and twisted, pushing the door open slowly. He had been expecting gun shots, or shouting at the very least, but there was nothing. Finally, when he risked a peek inside, his mouth tightened into a frown.

Duo was slumped forward in a white chair at the far side of the room. The shadow he cast on the pearly white marble floor looked severely distorted because of his awkward position.

Wufei glanced over the room to see if the woman was inside of it. As far as he could tell, she was not. One of the windows was open however, causing the long, sheer curtains to billow outwards, as was one of the side doors. It appeared he was in a music room, and since he had never been in it before, he did not know if that door led to a closet or a hallway.

Creeping forward, Wufei reached Duo and checked for a pulse. Though his eyes were open and he looked much like a corpse, he was alive and breathing steadily.

A shadowy silhouette appeared on the window sill, immediately firing a shot at Wufei. He had lurched backwards as soon as he sensed movement, and it was just enough to avoid the shot. The woman in the steel colored dress stood casually on the ledge, gun pointed and ready to let loose another round. She smiled at him.

"It was amusing, watching her try _so hard_ to warn you," the woman said coolly, "but that's the problem with some of the Gen-Ones. Not all there in the head. I was so looking forward to meeting the infamous War and Plague. I was disappointed. Famine though, him I like. He at least put up a fight."

Bright lights shined in from behind and above her—lights that belonged to mobile suits.

"I will be rewarded for keeping him alive. We can still use him. I will also be rewarded for killing one of the annoying gundam pilots." The woman shot again and again at Wufei, but he continued jumping around, never giving her a chance to aim at him. The closest she got was putting a hole through one of his long, silk sleeves.

She hopped down from the ledge and started to walk forward, annoyed that she was not hitting the pilot.

As she started to back him into the wall, he was ready to start fighting back. Once she was closer to him, he would be within range to try to disarm her—assuming she didn't manage to shoot him first.

A shot fired from the open door on the other side of the room, hitting the woman in the head. She went down in an instant. There was just enough time for Zechs to appear, firearm in hand, before a loud explosion went off somewhere near their wing. "Wufei, are you injured?"

The pilot shook his head, "she was a poor shot; she did not hit me. Grab Maxwell, I believe there are mobile suits above us." He walked forward and checked for a pulse. The woman was dead. "CSO spy. I found another a little bit ago."

"Dumped in a closet?" Zechs asked as he hoisted the unconscious Duo onto his back.

"Yes, I left him there. He should have been out for a while." Wufei hurried to the open window and twisted around to look above the palace. There were a few dolls humming by, flooding the building with fluorescent lights. It looked as if there were flames coming from the side of the building, towards where all of the limos and luxury cars were parked.

"Rashid has him. We couldn't tell if he was an enemy or not, so he is tied up with the Maganac. We can question him later." Zechs went towards the door he had entered in, but had to brace himself against the door frame as another explosion went off shortly after. This one caused a shudder through the building. "Hurry to the hangar. We need to get to our suits. The others will surely be stuck trying to evacuate everyone. If at least we can get out there, we can hold off CSO."

Wufei stared at the body of the woman for a moment. He had a bad feeling in his gut while he looked at her. He could not put his finger on why he felt such a disturbance. He looked to Zechs and nodded.

000

"Please, just follow us in an orderly fashion," Quatre tried shouting over the frantic voices, to no avail. "Everyone will be able to reach safety. The smoother this runs, the faster we can proceed." The hallway to the emergency lift was packed with over one hundred party goers, and they were fighting to get to the elevator that would take them to the reinforced hangar below.

"I should wait for everyone else to go first," Relena stated as she helped count twenty people into the lift, Trowa and the unconscious Isabella counting for two of those twenty.

Quatre shook his head and jumped in front of the closing metal doors to block anyone fighting to get over to it. "Get on the next one. You can help get people loaded onto the emergency vehicles. Noin and Une can help get everything sorted here. Heero will down as soon as he can get over here to get to a gundam."

It was only a few moments after that they could hear Heero shouting from the other end of the mass of people. "Everybody _move_ ," he boomed, which was very uncharacteristic for the man. When people caught sight of his slightly mangled face, and his bloody tuxedo shirt, they cleared the way for him. He forced his way through.

"Why does he get to go next?!" A hysterical woman from somewhere in the middle cried out, causing a chorus of agreement.

"Someone has to get out there and fend off any mobile dolls, don't they?" He replied evenly, turning around and locking eyes with the girl. He was in no mood to fight with the entitled party guests. Her voice caught in her throat and she hiccupped, nodding. The crowd moved away from him, if ever so slightly.

It took about five minutes for the lift to descent and clear out before it was on its way back up. In that time, there was another blast that caused the building to shake. Suddenly, the crowd wasn't so eager to get onto the lift.

Relena was the first one to enter the industrial lift, just to show everyone that she did feel it was safe. The guests looked at one another briefly before once again trying to storm the elevator. Quatre counted in eighteen more people and then shut the doors behind him, his arms sprawled to keep people from trying to pull the doors back open.

"We will be fine," pilot 04 assured again, this time a little aggravation in his voice, "if everyone can get themselves organized, we will be on our way to safety."

Une and Noin managed to get up from and help Quatre form a barrier. With two more people there, the fighting died down just a bit. The five minute wait seemed to last forever before the next load of people could rush in and head back down.

000

"I am not familiar with this part of the palace," Wufei said as he turned the hallway with Zechs. He had stopped by the Sanc kingdom a few times with Sally and Noin during his run as a preventer, but he couldn't say he was too interested in exploring the white, Western architecture.

"We're going in the direction of the emergency lift. There are a few relatively unused back hallways that will get us over there without having to get back out to the balcony. I wouldn't want the dolls to target us because they see us running." Zechs stopped at a door and stepped aside, waiting for Wufei to open it. They could hear a group of voices on the other side of the closed off corridor.

The gundam pilot ran up and tried the door. "It's locked, I'll break it open," he said and stepped back. He raised his leg and kicked it. It did some damage, but not enough. As he prepared to try again, there was gunfire yet again.

Zechs was shot in the side, just barely missing Duo's thigh. Wufei whipped around as his friend cried and crumpled against the wall. The woman in the steely dress, bleeding heavily and standing awkwardly with wide eyes, stood to shoot at Wufei. Before he could react, a mass of red tackled her to the ground, grappling for the gun.

Edan and the CSO spy rolled around, trying to land blows while holding onto the gun. The gun went off again, using the last of its bullets, and then Edan released her. With one well placed, strong hit, the spy's wounded skull was crushed. There was a jolt through her body, but she was definitely dead.

Wufei looked at her cautiously, trying to judge if she was back to "herself." She blinked back in response. "Your arm," he said and leaned down to diagnose Zechs.

Edan raised a brow and looked at Wufei in confusion.

"Your arm," he repeated, nodding to her left side, "it's bleeding." She looked down and almost visibly jumped in surprise. She hadn't noticed that the stray bullet had clipped her arm. There was too much blood to tell just how deep it actually went.

The gundam pilot stood again and managed to kick the door in, shocking some of the party goers who were at the back of the line to the lift. They, at first, thought that Wufei and his group were CSO soldiers.

Taking Duo upon his own back, Wufei headed straight into the mass of people. "We have injured," he called out, making people clear their way. Edan was using her good arm to help Zechs move. He had one arm draped around her, and another squeezing his side tightly.

"Oh god, Zechs!" Noin cried out and fought forward to help Edan with his weight. She was careful around the wound, putting her hand on his to add pressure. "What happened?"

Zechs groaned and limped forward with the two women. "Shot. CSO spy. I thought I had already taken her out…"

"It's not like you to miss a target," Noin said seriously, earning her a disheartened laught.

"I didn't think I did…"

They managed to reach the elevator just as the doors were opening up once more form one of the trips. It was not empty when it opened, however. A few of the Maganac soldiers had ridded up, artillery in hand.

"What are you doing here?" Quatre asked in surprise, "are soldiers entering the building?" One of the red capped men nodded.

"Yes, Master Quatre, our security grid shows that there are surrounding the exits and sending teams inside. It appears that they are looking for something." The soldier exited the lift with his fellow Maganac and went as quickly as they could to the end of the long hallway. They were prepared to hold off any CSO insurgents that thought to attack the escaping governors.

Wufei, Noin, Zechs, Edan, and the body of Duo went into the industrial lift and Quatre rushed to count in another fifteen people. There was an eerie calm amongst the remaining sixty or seventy guests as they worked to get people loaded in. While it had not be designated, the gundam pilot noticed that many of the older men, and some of the women, had subtly moved to the back of the line.

They were preparing for the worst.

Quatre's jaw clenched as he shut the doors again and nodded to Wufei and Edan.

000

Once they were down below, Rashid rushed forward to scoop Duo away from the other pilot. "Yuy has already gone out, he's fending off the CSO dolls on his own. Barton is ready to take off now. We have to send out short interference waves so that the dolls don't sense the departure point. If they discover the entrance, there is no hope of escape."

Wufei nodded, "I understand. I will load up. Get medical attention for Edan and Zechs. They've both been shot."

With Duo off of his back, Wufei straightened up and took off running towards his Nataku. It did not take long before there was a Maganac soldier following after him, ready to drive the loading vehicle to the underground aqueduct entrance.

While the hangar was enough to fit nine gundams and a few dozen Maganac Taurus suits, maneuvering around was difficult. Each suit had to be carted to the front, since there was not enough space for them to move around on their own until more suits were cleared out.

The red capped soldier started up the vehicle while Wufei grabbed onto the wire to zip up to his cockpit.

"Brother!" Relena spied Noin and Edan helping to get Zechs onto a gurney. She wasted no time leaving behind the conversation she was having with Dorothy to run to his side. "Did you do this? Did you hurt him?" To Noin's surprise, the princess directed her anger at Edan.

The brunette looked at Relena in bewilderment and shook her head, pointing to her own arm.

"She's trying to say she defended us," Zechs said through gritted teeth, "a CSO spy snuck up on Chang and I while I was carrying Maxwell and shot at us. May have got another in if Edan hadn't got her first."

One of the medics ran up with a young woman from the party. "I spent time in Africa, working as a nurse," the woman said, "I was near the rebel camps during CSO's take over. I attended to many gunshot wounds—more than I care to count. I can help."

"Thank you," Noin replied, "get him loaded into one of the transport trucks and get set to start stitching him up." The medic and the newfound nurse nodded and took control of the gurney, rushing it to the closest empty truck.

Noin turned away to start for her Spartan, but Edan stood in her way.

"I don't… I don't know you want," the older woman said with a tired sigh and tried to move around. Edan continued to block her path, reaching out to push Noin. "I have to help them! They need back up!"

Edan nodded and then tapped her hand to herself. She tapped Noin and pointed to the truck with Zechs.

Noin looked back at the man, then at Edan. "But… you're injured too." Edan rolled her eyes, waving the other woman off. "You really are a gundam pilot… Okay, let me grab a bandage and at least tie you off. It might help stop the bleeding."

Soon after Zechs was loaded up, Trowa was lifting off to join the fight. The dolls were distracted by Wing Zero, but that didn't stop some of them from turning their attention to him as well. "Better me than the Palace," he muttered and immediately opened fire, attempting to push the dolls back. Two dolls burst into bits almost immediately opened fire, but some continued after him.

"We'll lure them North East, to keep the aqueduct exit clear," Heero said over the com line, "if they focus on us and on the palace itself, it should provide enough cover for the governors to escape. Swift Trillion has its cloaking up, so the dolls shouldn't have noticed it. Howard reports no problems on his end."

Trowa raised Heavyarm's right fist, bringing his blade down on the head of the doll. He pulled back and thrust forward, into the center. The enemy blew up moments later. "Good. Hopefully Quatre can join us after he gets everyone to the hangar. We're out Isabella for the time being, I haven't seen Zechs, Duo, or Wufei, and Noin and Une were helping inside, last time I checked. Edan disappeared, which does slightly worry me."

"We can't worry about her now," Heero replied. He was using his beam sword to cut through enemy after enemy. The dolls were, thankfully, targeting the gundams over the palace. That was likely because CSO soldiers were still inside.

As they continued battling, Wufei was able to take off from the underground hangar and join the fight. "There are still about fifty people left to move. There are Maganac inside, waiting to fend off CSO. Zechs has been shot. He's going through a make shift surgery as we speak." He cleared out so that the next suit could get into the air. The Sanc kingdom was not designed to hold troops or defend in battle. "Duo is unconscious, I don't know why or how."

His dragons shot out, fighting against two mobile dolls who turned their attention on him. It seemed that more dolls were coming from somewhere out on the ocean. Surely Howard had already detecting whatever warship CSO had been using to transport their weapons.

The next mobile suit to join the fight was Red Horse. She withdrew her two thermal weapons and planted herself near the palace. Her close range methods would be more helpful against the dolls that had already landed. It provided Trowa with the opportunity to make his way to the shore line and shoot down incoming dolls.

"You shouldn't be using your injured arm," Wufei said as he opened a com link with Red Horse, "you're only going to make the wound worse."

" _If we all die, my injured arm won't matter,"_ said a voice through his speaker. It sounded like a robotic Isabella. He hardly managed to hide his sudden confusion. _"Isabella loaded a voice program while on Swift Trillion. Reading text in battle is counterproductive."_

"When did she touch my Nataku…" Wufei jumped back as he was swarmed by enemies, and struggled to get his trident out. When he activated it, he furiously dove forward once more, slashing apart pieces of the dolls. "Well regardless, you know that CSO will come for you if we are defeated. They won't destroy years of their own work in one battle."

Edan's eyes narrowed and her jaw clenched—giving the other gundam pilot a look of almost certain anger. _"I would sooner die than allow them to take me again."_

The com link disconnected and she stood her ground, defending the Sanc kingdom with the weapon designed to lead CSO to victory.

As they fought on, there was a high pitched, rapid beeping throughout the rebel suits. They turned as they could to catch sight of whatever incoming target their systems had detected. There was metallic green and black suit leading the next wave of mobile dolls.

"It looks like CSO has finally decided to send Death to greet us," Heero said and jumped into the air. He would meet the powerful gundam before he had a chance to get too close to the kingdom.

000

Quatre rushed the second to last group into the lift. They had about fifteen people left, including himself and Lady Une. He slammed the door shut and sent the lift down. "Five more minutes," he breathed, trying to keep his cool, "just five more minutes."

Bullets were already flying, and one of the Maganac soldiers was down. Une was standing nearby, using a handgun to take down any soldiers who thought to try to come through the door that Wufei had broken open. It seemed that they would be overwhelmed when two of three red capped soldiers were on the ground.

Quatre turned to the nearest calm guest. "When the lift gets here, get everyone on, and just pull the gate down tightly. It will click into place. Press the yellow button on the panel to go down. Once you're down there, press the red button, and flip the red switch. It will keep the lift down below. Do _not_ send it back up." He couldn't risk having any of the soldiers trying to get down to the hangar. If the group below knew what was best, they would blow the entire shaft, just in case.

He started to go down the hallway to grab one of the fallen soldier's high powered weapons, but two of the governors stopped him.

"You're too important to this cause," the older of the two gentlemen said. He was tall, balding, and wearing a dated military dress jacket. "You should go with the next lift. We can hold them off long enough."

Quatre looked at the two men with his big blue eyes, "but… you're governors! We need your support to join the nations again CSO!"

"And you will have it," the other man quickly replied, putting his hand on the blonde's shoulder, "we've already spoken with some of our closest allies. You will have our support. We're two, old soldiers who have been saved by the gundams in the past. It's our turn to save you." The governors looked at one another and nodded, immediately leaving Quatre before he could try to convince them to stay.

They picked up the machine guns dropped by the Maganacs and joining the last one as he fought off a team of CSO soldiers, fighting to get through the hallway. For men who had been retired for many a year, they seemed to get into place very naturally.

Lady Une pulled the wrecked doors closed and used her shawl to tie the handles shut. It wouldn't hold for long, but it was enough time for the elevator to start back up to the door. "We are leaving them?"

Quatre nodded and forced the gate open, practically throwing the remaining guests in as fast as he could. He and Lady Une were the last two to enter. Before he shut the gate, he pulled the tapestry used to cover the emergency lift, letting it conceal their exit completely.

Quatre shut the doors and pressed the button about four times. He knew it would not make the lift move any faster, but his rush of adrenaline made him do it anyhow. Down they went, through about three stories of dirt, stone, and concrete, before they entered the hangar, which was another few stories high. They could see people rushing around as they descended—the metal grid wall giving them a full view of the chaos.

The first thing that the gundam pilot noticed was that Wing Zero, Heavyarms, Altron, and Red Horse were not towering over the rest of the mobile suits. "Good," he muttered to himself, relieved that some of the suits had already managed to get out to the battlefield. He could hear a fight going on around them while he was loading guests, but he did not know who was doing the fighting, exactly.

Whenever they touched the bottom, Quatre was the first one to go running out, looking for Noin or Rashid. Dorothy, instead, was the one to run up to him.

"Winner!" She shouted as she jogged over to him, a feat in her high heels, "the first transport has already left to go to the Swift Trillion. Zechs is in one of the empty trucks, they're transporting him with Noin, Relena, Duo, Isabella, and a small crew working to remove the bullet fragments from his side."

Quatre nodded, brows furrowed as he thought through the plans. "How many transport trucks do we have available? Can we get White Horse and Deathscythe loaded, or will they get in the way of moving the guests to safety?"

"I have one transport working on loading Deathscythe now. If it manages to get to the gundam back to Swift Trillion and back in time, then we can try to get White Horse loaded. Another transport is set to start moving Tallgeese, but only after it returns from one governor run. We should have enough transports to get everyone over there, since the transports can carry about forty people."

"Right," Quatre winced, "of course. I forgot that Zechs obviously won't be able to pilot. I can't blame Noin for going with him, especially since…" He shook his head and sighed. "I will get loaded up."

As Quatre rushed around to make arrangements to have the lift sealed, the Maganac soldiers stationed themselves near the lift, carefully placing a timed explosive into the machine. _Good,_ the pilot thought, _they were planning on blowing it._

After starting the countdown, the soldiers sent the elevator back up towards the palace, moving their line back so that people would stay out of the blast range. The metal grates would protect them from most falling debris, but they did not want people close if they could avoid it.

It only took about forty give seconds for the rumbling to be heard, a sudden wave of dirt, concrete, and other rubble falling to fill the lower levels of the shaft. The soldiers would not get them through that route.

If all went well, the guests and unused gundams would be safely aboard the Swift Trillion within a half hour. The large ship would be able to launch into the sea, using its interception abilities to fake out any radars looking for them. When it was safe, the governors could rally together and make a public announcement condemning CSO for their attempted murder and their awful acts against human kind. It wasn't idea, but CSO's rash move to try to slaughter all of their opposition in one swoop was just the catalyst the rebel forces needed to gain the support of the world.

000

The green gundam called Pale Horse was eerily like Epyon. While Red Horse may have had a similar appearance, it was its brethren that held the whip and the beam sword. Pale Horse was seemingly designed for a little bit of everything—while he was not using them, Heero could tell that there were covers that would open if shots were to be fired. The gundam's electrified whip supplied him with mid-range coverage, and his beam saber with short.

Heero couldn't help but wonder why they had not yet encountered CSO's strongest weapon.

He fought to remove the whip coiled around his left arm. He struggled and struggled—his left arm rendered immobile while within the electric field. Wufei finally joined the battle, swinging his trident to scrape across the Pale Horse's back. It created a blemish on the green and black casing, but hardly more than that. It would take a few more well placed strikes to do any serious damage.

The distraction provided enough time for Wing Zero to twist itself out of the coil. Putting just a bit of distance between himself and his enemy, Heero tested out his mecha's arm. It was slow to respond, almost unusable in battle.

Pale Horse submitted a communication line for Wing Zero's approval, which Heero chose to accept. While Wufei would probably prefer a good battle with a strong enemy, Heero was willing to try a diplomatic approach with his opponent, if it meant saving Relena's kingdom.

"Heero Yuy," the pilot said with a smirk, as if he found he name funny, "so glad to finally meet you."

"You must be Vince deBordaris, I've heard a lot about you." Heero replied. He surveyed the other man—Vince was likely a few years older than himself, and he certainly did not look like a soldier. In fact, as far as he could tell, Edan was the only one of Dorian Adelphie's inner circle who was expected to be professional. The man before him had short, spiky black hair and a tight black tee shirt. He had tattoos up his arm, some of which were Japanese.

"None of it good?"

"None of it good," Heero confirmed.

Vince shrugged. To most, he would appear to have a severe lack of concern for his situation. However, Heero could tell that the other pilot was stiff and tense. He was waiting for something to happen. "Well, Isabella and I have never exactly been the best of friends. I'm not all that different from you."

Heero gave a small snort in response.

"You kill people, I kill people; you do whatever it takes to accomplish your mission, I can respect that. But you should know, you've really chosen the wrong side."

Wing Zero received another communication link, this time from Wufei. Heero temporarily muted Pale Horse's link, so that Vince would not hear their conversation. "What is it?"

"The CSO soldiers are leaving the palace, and in a hurry. Thought you should know," Wufei answered before closing out the line. He still had dolls to fight off, after all. Heero narrowed his eyes as he took a moment to observe his surroundings.

The soldiers were, indeed, fleeing the palace. Perhaps they had set explosives? The dolls seemed to be only attacking from certain sides of the gundams, forcing them to move towards one another. And of course, there was Pale Horse, hovering by idly, even though he should be attacking Heero.

They only had a few moments to react after Pale Horse shot off, straight into the air, and Isabella's robotic voice shouted _"beam canon!"_ throughout their suits.

The powerful light filled the air, not only obliterating some of the CSO Dolls, wiping out almost an entire wing of the Sanc Academy—the wing the gundam pilots and their guests had slept in for the past few days. Edan's warning had been enough to save the suits as most of them took to the air.

It seemed that CSO was preparing to charge and unleash another beam of energy since the Dolls started to clear out of the immediate area. Only a few remained behind to continue to swarm the gundams.

"We won't all be able to fit on Swift Trillion, especially not with the extra guests and a transporter." Quatre took off into the air, trying to draw some of the dolls away from the mess on the ground. A few followed him, but of course his suit wasn't meant for areal combat, and he had to go back to ground along the shoreline anyhow.

" _I will finish out the fight and take cover on one of the nearby islands,"_ replied Red Horse, " _anyone else who can get back to the ship should do so."_

"Do not tell us what to do, woman," Wufei snapped and opted to follow Quatre's motions. He did not have to touch down again, however, since his trident and dragons were more fitted for air. "We have done far too much running lately, I refuse to leave this one as well!" As if to make his point, he dramatically lunged forward, his weapon's thermal tips going straight into the heart of a doll, causing it to explode.

Minutes passed, and the threat of another canon beam was looming heavy in the air. They were running out of precious time.

"Quatre, you should go back to the ship. You are going to have to get the remaining governors organized and ready for an official announcement to combat CSO's inevitable cover up. You can line up our retrieval as well" Trowa made a point to put some distance between himself and the others. If CSO was going to unleash another devastating blast, then they would have a harder time aiming if they were spread out.

Wing Zero was still one hundred feet or so above the ground, fending off Pale Horse as much as he could. Unfortunately, Heero had the distinct feeling that his enemy was just toying with him. "He's right, someone is going to have to line up our retrieval. If they use the beam canon again, leave immediately after. The residual particles should interfere with the doll's radar long enough to get to Swift Trillion. Howard likely already has the Empty Space triggered so you will be covered."

"But I can't just—"

"They've stopped sending reinforcements, as long as we can get Pale Horse to retreat, we will be fine," Trowa replied, "we have too much at stake to abandon our original plan."

With a sad frown planted to his face, the blonde pilot reluctantly nodded. "You're right. I will leave as soon as I have the cover."

They watched the movements of Pale Horse as much as they could, amidst their own battles. Even though Red Horse informed them that the recharge time had elapsed, their enemy showed no signs of an impending attack.

However, they certainly were not wrong. The beam canon hit again, this time aiming specifically for Red Horse. She seemed to anticipate the possibility of being the main target, and launched straight upwards the moment their sensors picked up on the powerful blast.

In a strange turn of events, Pale Horse fled the scene, despite the fact that he had been far out of range of the beam canon.

Sandrock stuck to the plan and headed straight for Swift Trillion, leaving just the four gundams and the scattered CSO dolls, whose numbers were almost halved in the last blast.

"Everyone, scatter," Heero ordered, "do not give them the change to regroup. If they send more dolls, all they will find is a partially demolished castle and their own soldiers." He wasted no time flying off towards the ocean, ready to choose his hiding spot for the time being.

Heavyarms followed next, moving in a similar direction as the other pilot before diverging. Altron and Red Horse were left with the dolls. "We should be going after him! He fled from us! That coward!" Wufei was about ready to follow after Pale Horse, but Edan blocked him.

" _It is a trap, a chase is what he is hoping for—he wants you to go after him, so that I will follow,"_ said Red Horse's voice. She spun around and used her one sword to slice through the head of a doll, shutting it down.

"I do not understand."

" _I can explain, but we cannot stay here. I cannot stay here_ ," Red Horse replied.

Wufei angrily shrugged, "fine then. You leave. I am not. I will go down fighting!"

Red Horse grabbed his trident in midair and pulled, causing the other pilot to reflexively pull back. It became an awkward game of tug-of-war. "You refused to let me stay at the CSO facility. I am refusing to let you stay here."

In an attempt to free himself from her grasp without losing his weapon, Wufei brought his arm other arm down on her suit. At least, he tried to, but she caught it in midair. He knew at that moment that he had made a mistake. They were evenly matched, they always were. They would be at a standstill all day.

Another doll zoomed down to attack Red Horse's back. Despite her sensors going off, Edan made no motion to defend herself. "You are so frustrating," Wufei spat and released his trident. He raised his free arm and unleashed one of his dual dragons, smashing the sensor unit before engulfing the doll's top half in flames. "You had better have a good reason for this…" With his concession, the two suits shot off, leaving the misguided dolls behind.

" _We only have a few moments before the dolls radar systems reset_ ," said Red Horse. She took down the last of the dolls in her immediate path before setting a specific course over the ocean, Wufei reluctantly following after her.

Despite his concession he continued muttered his displeasure of fleeing, speaking in his native tongue—something he had not done in some time.

" _I can still hear you_ ," said Red Horse, _"do your comrades know you call them such names?"_

With a scowl firmly planted, Wufei disconnected their communication line. He was too aggravated to be baited into her verbal trap. They flew for some minutes in silence, passing over numerous islands that were in close vicinity of the Sanc Kingdom. It seemed that the woman had some idea of where she was going, so he followed without question.

000

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: To those of you sticking with me, thank you! I don't think I've had beta's look at these chapters going forward. If they seem a bit choppy… I do apologize. But, I hope you enjoy! I really do enjoy feed back and I always consider it when I edit chapters so that I can continuously revise.
> 
> Most of the things keeping me busy have started to pass, so I hope to update a bit more frequently. (Though I am going Ghost Hunting at the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in two weeks, so I may be wrapped up reviewing evidence!)
> 
> Ever your servant,
> 
> A.F


	14. Part I: Verse XIV

After Colony: Revelation

Verse XIV

The island they finally touched down upon did not look particularly healthy from above. Cement structures stood out in the tree lines, with metal rods and pole jutting out as they pleased. It seemed to the gundam pilot that there had once been a large structure on the island, one that may have burned down during the fall of the original Sanc. Wildlife had taken over, though it was clearly still recovering.

Their gundams worked their way into the healthier foliage on the south end of the island, sitting themselves down and using some of the now down trees to hide their gleaming colors. While they both had shields to help divert any mechanical radars, they could not stop any prying eyes. Nataku was much easier to cover, her green and blue melting into the cool colors of the forest. Red Horse, on the other hand, had a much hard time; it was red. Wufei worked to help cover its arms before settling his own suit until their pick up.

"We should move away from the suits so that they do not show a thermal signature," Wufei said, reopening their com line. He opened his cockpit and waited for Edan to exit, but she did not. "We do not have time to waste."

_"_ _If I leave, I won't be able to speak with you," Red horse replied after another brief pause._

He was surprised to feel a sudden pit in his stomach. Even with a monotonous, computerized voice, she seemed to display a clear sadness. Wufei clenched his haw and stepped back inside his suit. He allowed their com link to remain open, but only the audio. "How did you know to avoid the canon blast?"

_"_ _Pale Horse requested a communication line with me. CSO was specifically targeting my suit. Adelphie is set on destroying me."_

"Why would he admit such things to you?" Wufei pulled up a large map of the area, trying to survey their best position. It was almost one o'clock in the morning. They still had a great deal of night to survive through.

_"_ _I don't know,"_ Red Horse replied, " _but Adelphie is hoping I miscalculate and get myself killed."_

"Miscalculate?"

" _I was trained to always be two steps ahead of my enemy. It is hard for me to follow my training in self preservation when I must think of more than just myself… Having Pale Horse flee is an example of that. I suspect that they knew I would not follow him on my own, but if one of my comrades did, then I would follow."_

Wufei thought back to Heero's massacre some years before—when he was tricked into destroying an entire shuttle filled with the only members of Romefeller seeing peace. Then his thoughts moved towards his defeat of Treize. How easily the gundam pilots were manipulated, time and time again.

His fingers wrapped around the edge of his arms rests. If they hadn't been made of pure metal, he likely would have ground a way to crush the ends.

_"_ _Don't be angry. You couldn't have known. I simply know how they think. After all, CSO is, quite literally, part of me."_

He released his grip and took a deep breath. She may not have been able to see him, but she was still able to read him. "How is your arm?"

" _About how you would suspect, I suppose."_

Wufei sighed and rolled his eyes, "are you still bleeding?"

_"_ _I am fine_ ," said the robotic voice through this cockpit. If there was one thing he had learned, it was that when women or gundam pilots said they were 'fine,' it usually meant that there was some sort of impending trouble. He wiped his right hand down his face, rubbing his temple.

He sat forward again and opened the latch to Altron's storage compartment. There was a six pack of purified water, emergency flares and rations, a small wilderness survival kit, and a first aid box. Throwing a few of the necessities into a draw strong knapsack, Wufei shut the compartment again. "Open up, I am coming over."

_"_ _I am fine,_ " she repeated.

Still, he walked out into the night air, and hopped onto his lift cable, riding it down to the ground. He had to give his eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness, since the brightness of his monitors had not helped. The moon was high in the sky, but the foliage was thick enough that he had to tread carefully.

When he reached Red Horse, its cockpit was still not open. It seemed Edan was not willing to exit on her own. He climbed on top of the mecha, balancing on the sleek metal, and worked his way up the side. It was tough getting towards the torso, but he was nimble enough to do so.

Unfortunately for Edan, Wufei still had the access code to Red Horse. He pressed open the small panel, revealing the key pad. He entered the same code as he did when they were in space, and the cockpit hissed. It opened, despite its pilot's wishes.

"You are making this difficult, and I am not thrilled," he said sternly, Edan simply looked off to the side, her eyes slightly downcast. "Turn a light on in here."

A light flickered on, without her having to move to do so. Once it did, he saw that she was, of course, plugged into the system. He didn't think he would ever get used to seeing that.

The next thing he noticed, which he should have really noticed first, was that her arm looked like something out of a horror movie. The wound had continued to bleed out, even though she had tried to temporarily stop it. It was likely that extra stress on her arm from maneuvering the gundam's weapon had taken its toll. "I told you to hold back. For someone who is supposed to be one of the perfect soldiers, you're terribly stubborn."

Wufei looked over the injury as much as he could, but he knew he would not be able to clean it up in the cockpit. He needed to dump one of the water bottles over the area, which he couldn't do with the electrical equipment. "Stand on the edge. I will have to wipe you down."

Edan looked at him, but did not move.

"Now," Wufei commanded. On his word, she stood and stepped out onto the open platform.

He rolled back his sleeves, more so to keep them out of the way rather than out of concern for dirtying them, and raised her wrist. He made a point to use just his thumb and forefinger, since he didn't want to get her blood all over his hands. Once he was sure she would hold it there, he twisted opened the first bottle of water and slowly poured it over the bullet wound.

It took two full bottles to get most of the blood to wash away and drip to the forest ground below. He used some of the gauze to dry her skin, though the wound was still oozing, and used the rest to securely bind her arm. Wufei stepped back on the small platform to assess his work, and was satisfied enough with what he could see from the moonlight and the cockpit's emergency lights.

Edan just stared at him, making Wufei feel rather uncomfortable. "Stop that," he said, annoyance in his voice, "don't get the wrong impression. I simply can't have you bleeding out on me. That would complicate things quite a bit when we line up our transport… And what happened to your shoes, hm? How to you expect to walk along the forest floor now?"

She shrugged, but nothing more.

Wufei wiped his dry, unsullied hand down his face and shook his head. "Sometimes, I think you're more trouble than you're worth. Take the cord down, then I will close up here and follow." Edan did as she was told and waited patiently for him on the sand below.

With just a double check to make sure that Nataku was also secure, he dropped down after her and discarded all of their empty bottles and bloody gauze. Wufei pulled off his brocade jacket and helped Edan put her arms through to keep her from moving her binding too much. She looked up at him and tilted her head to the side.

"It's cold out, even if you can't tell. I still have another layer. Now, get on," he said and turned around to kneel down. He motioned with his hands for her to climb onto his back. She was barefoot, and the sand would likely turn to dirt the farther inland they went. Besides that, if there were damaged facilities nearby, there could end up being glass or metal.

She was heavier than he had expected. The only other time he had to carry her on his own was when they were in space, and the gravity was different. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised, since the woman had quite a bit of muscle to her, despite her appearance. While he didn't think that he would have a problem carrying her the entire way to the abandoned cement building, he did have to constantly readjust his grasp on her legs, with her skirt continuously riding up with each bump they hit.

Wufei was quite happy he had decided to give her his jacket to cover up further. It was more for his own comfort than for hers.

After a few minutes of walking, Edan let out a semi audible exhale and he felt her head drop down onto her good arm and against his neck. He thought about making some sort of snide remark but decided he would rather continue their comfortable silence.

It certainly got darker as they went on. The trees became so thick that he was carefully placing each step. Luckily, it wasn't long before they found the building, which was clearly illuminated by the bright moon. It looked like it could have been a maintenance facility with maybe some offices. The front door was off its hinges, laying dented on the side. Something had happened there to destroy most of the building some decade or two ago.

As he entered into the facility, the brief threat of wild animals crossed his mind. What would he do if there some something dangerous inside and he was stuck with the woman on his back? He couldn't very well just throw her to the side. "Let's hope for the best," he muttered and crossed the threshold.

Luckily, there was no immediate threat lurking on the inside. It appeared that they were in some sort of large garage, though the once mechanical doors were permanently shut. There were windows high on the wall and most of the glass was shattered. Curiously, there were not shards on the inside, which led him to believe that there was likely some sort of blast that had simply blown the windows apart from within.

The ground was covered in sand that had been swept inside by storms over the years, which made for good padding when he set Edan down. Though she was awake and attempted to stand on her own, she stumbled and caught herself on the cement wall. He hadn't noticed before how pale she had looked. He supposed the blood loss during their mobile suit battle had caused it.

"I brought a communicator. I'm sure they won't be able to send out anything but encrypted transmissions until CSO has cleared the area, so when I receive something, we will know to head back to the gundams. Until then… we wait," Wufei stated and started to walk around, exploring the room.

There was nothing that could have identified which business or organization had owned the building. "You will have to tell me how you knew of this place once we return to the suits."

When he turned around again, to head back to the wall with the door opening, Edan was already on the ground, her head back and arm limply hanging at her side. He panicked for a moment, but even though the oversized jacket, he could see that her chest was rising and falling. Still breathing. Did she even hear what he said?

With nothing further to do, he sat down next to her and sat staring, trying to stay up and keep watch, just in case.

He nodded off before dawn. Edan woke first to the faint beeping of the communicator to find that they had huddled up against the cold. Though, she supposed, it was more Wufei who had done that, since she didn't feel any temperature difference.

Four hours. They would have four hours until their transport would be in the vicinity. She didn't feel the need to wake the man so early. Instead, she let him snooze against her shoulder.

"What's the status?" Quatre's gundam was the first to dock after Swift Trillion set out to sea. Even with Isabella lying immobile, they were able to figure out her Empty Space program to throw off any of the CSO dolls and their radars. It was such a beautiful flaw in technology.

Guests were crowded into the few sitting spaces available on the ship. The hulls were packed to the brink with gundams and mobile suits. Make shift operation rooms had been put together to help the injured, though that mostly consisted of Zechs and a few guests who fell during the chaos. Dorothy, of all people, was the one taking charge with Lady Une to organize and do a headcount. Quatre was pleased o see the order that had been brought about by the time he had arrived.

"We should be clear of danger in about thirty minutes," Une replied. He hair was pulled back tightly in a bun, and she was using her 'soldier tone.' "We are not allowing any guests to make outside contact, just to minimize the chance of being tracked. The governors are already pooling together and discussing their next moves. CSO has clearly flipped the chessboard they were using to play with the rebels, so they aren't likely to sit quiet for much longer."

Quatre nodded, staring off at no one in particular. "Good," he said quietly, "CSO is planning something big. I can feel it. If we don't act fast, they will have already won. How is Zechs?"

Une was silent for a moment, which only caused him further uneasiness. "Not well. We don't have the equipment necessary for a full surgical procedure. There is still at least one bullet fragment floating inside of him somewhere. They had to stop trying to remove it because of the bleeding. We're lucky some of the guests have full medical backgrounds but… if only Sally…" Une didn't finish. She shook her head and pursed her lips. She may have only been in her early 30s, but she looked so much older at that moment.

Every war that they fought had bloodshed and loss, Quatre knew that. This seemed just so much worse. This was hardly a war at all; it was more of a massacre. CSO held almost all of the power. Since Mariemaia's brief regime, all of the extra armaments had been destroyed. Except for certain sub-military powers like the Maganac, the country-states under CSO simply had no way to retaliate. The Governors throwing their chips in with the pilots were certainly taking a risk.

Of course, Quatre cared for every one of his men. Even though he had already lost at least two tonight, it was hard knowing that the indestructible Lightning Count was possibly dying a few decks below him. "After Howard gets us to safety, make sure he lines up another ship to pick up the others. Wufei should be with Edan, so we will have his communicator to track. Heero is wounded from his fight with Edan. If he is alone, we should aim for his pick up first. CSO will likely demolish Sanc with their beam cannon, and send in crews to find any survivors. Hopefully any of the staff left behind managed to get far enough away. I'm going to meet with the governors for press conference prep. Can you handle everything else for now?"

Une nodded curtly. "Of course. I will have everything organized by the time you're done rallying the political troops."

The two rebels split and went back to work. The gundam pilot was forced to step into his leadership role and lead the governors to an agreement. It was hard to keep emotion out of it, but they all knew that calm professionalism was what they needed to lead their people through a rebellion.

Though they didn't exactly have a high tech set up, they had enough equipment to film short speeches made by the governors to be broadcast to their countries. Some of the Swift Trillion crew members offered to edit the videos and splice in some of the patient footage that had been retrieved from the Isle of Man facility. Though it wasn't the quickest of processes to do, what with each governor filming in their own language instead of one governor doing one universal video, the videos still were quiet dramatic.

They planned to release the footage later that day, but would never get the chance.

000

"We had them!" Adelphie shouted out in ager, throwing his coffee much against the wall. It narrowly missed a soldier's head, and shattered to the ground. The men and women in the control room on the Lunar Base sat silently while their commander had his melt down. "We had them!" Who gave the order to stand down? Why did Pale Horse retreat?"

"It seems, Sir, that he was receiving order from… Someone called "Hades."" One of the brave system control analysts pulled up the communication lines. They couldn't see much since it was encrypted, but the sender was clearly labeled as Hades. "Whoever it was, they were using master control codes to bypass the system. They were using your codes."

Before Adelphie had enough time to question further, the door slid open to allow another soldier to enter. "Sir!" The young man quickly saluted before continuing on, "the generals are waiting for you in the conference room. Shall I tell them you are on your way?"

Adelphie, in all of his anger, turned to the other soldier with furrowed brows. "I haven't called a meeting. Why are they waiting for me?"

The poor soldier at the door remained standing at attention, gulping down his nervousness. "I do not know, sir. They said they are waiting on you."

The Prime Minister chewed his lip, looking at the ceiling. As he started to 'calm down,' the tension in the room rose. It was when he was calm that he was the most terrifying. Calm usually meant that someone was more likely to die.

"I will be there in a moment," he said evenly and reached up to unroll his white sleeves. "Everyone else, find me those rebels."

Dorian Adelphie was not a soldier. He was a businessman, and a dictator. At this moment, it showed best his lack of experience on the battlefield. Had Adelphie been versed in tactical operations, he may have noticed that besides the one soldier nervously leading him down the hallway, there were no others to be found.

At the doorway of the private corridor reserved for Adelphie's use, another soldier stood at attention. He immediately saluted them and stepped aside, allowing the Prime Minister to use his swipe card and enter his code on a keypad.

Adelphie paid no mind to the subtle nod the soldiers gave one another. When he saw that only the emergency lights were on in the narrow hallway, he glanced back at the soldier who had been waiting for him. All of the private corridors—whether a clearly marked one such as this, or a hidden, emergency path like in some of the Earth bases—were set to have the lights turn on automatically upon entrance.

"I will get right on fixing this, sir," the soldier said quickly, bending down to the panel against the lower wall. "Would you like to wait until I have the lights on?"

"No, no," Adelphie snapped, "I don't have time to waste. I will only be a little while. I simply must find those wayward projects of mine…"

The Prime Minister continued down the hallway on his own, his eyes adjusting to the pulsing, dull lights. He thought about the suspicious environment only after he twisted the unlocked door handle and started to push the door open.

It was too late, by that point. The soldier had already crept up behind him and placed the barrel of his standard issued firearm against his head. Adelphie barely had time to process the red scene before him—seeing pools and spatters of blood on the usually white walls and floors—before the trigger was pulled. In moments, the Prime Minister was on the ground, joining the other splayed limbs on the floor and meeting tables.

These casualties were not CSO soldiers or rebels, but other naive businesspeople and engineers. These were the men and women who had made the Horsemen Projects a reality—investors and CEOs, scientists and psychologists. All of the people who had benefited from Adelphie's reign, those lying dead in the room had gained the most.

"I have eliminated the traitor Dorian Adelphie." The soldier holstered his gun and spoke into an ear piece. Moments later, the clicking of heels could be heard from behind him, at the entrance of the private corridor.

Moira walked into the entrance of the room, nudging her father's corpse with her shoe. "Bring in a cleaning crew after everyone is definitely dead. I see one still trying to move over there. Thank you, Major Wilhelm, you will be rewarded for your excellent service."

She took one last look around the destroyed meeting room and inwardly smiled. Soon, there would be a prerecorded announcement broadcasted all throughout the colonies and Earth. The footage of the Isle of Man research facility would be leaked by the rebels, and that same footage would be aired by Moira. She would announce that her father had gone mad at the news and proceeded to massacre his cohorts. Seeing no other route to stop his murderous rampage, she took it upon herself to order his execution.

Moira would announce her ascension to Prime Minister, and insist that the governors of the Earth help her in tracking down any other secret facilities that may be on their soil so that she can properly shut down any human experimentation and help anyone who has been victimized by her father.

If the governors refuse her, then a few of the sleeper soldiers may accidentally be activated, just to prove she was needed to remedy the situation.

000

"You have got to be kidding me!" Duo said, his voice raspy. He held his hand to his neck as he leaned against the door frame, watching the monitor in Howard's steering/command room. Everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch the emergency broadcast issued by CSO.

They had barely started releasing their own leaked videos when CSO took over all available channels.

"My name is Moira Adelphie. You may not know me, as I have not played a large role in the Caligo Sese Organization's political activities, but I am the daughter of the late Dorian Adelphie."

Below deck, the governors watched with dropped jaws and confusion as the woman spoke on. She sat behind what appeared to be a simple conference table, in a grey suit with her hair pulled up high. She looked every bit the part of a professional.

"Just a short time ago, a few Human Rights groups started sending out videos of what has been confirmed to be a research facility on the shores of the Isle of Man. I have had a team working nonstop to confirm any information we have on this incident. What we know at the moment is this: Dorian Adelphie, as well as many political and business figure heads, has been working in private to create a next-generation soldier. We do not yet know the extent of those involved, but we do know that there were a few Earth Governors involved with these endeavors.

I am launching a full scale investigation into these matters to find all parties involved, as well as the depth of their involvement. We believe that those who had the most direct hands in the matter have, unfortunately, already died and cannot be held accountable for their crime."

Quatra gripped the tabletop he was leaning on firmly as he watched the woman speak. She had beaten them to the matter. She had timed everything perfectly. How could she have known? How could she have known?! Someone had to be relaying information to her. She had been aware of their plans to break out the POWs at the lunar base months ago, and now she knew of their plans to leak the patient experiment footage. She had probably known about their attack on the Isle of Man, and planned for the activation and destruction of the patients.

Moria Adelphie.

"After the initial footage had been leaked, we can only assume that Dorian Adelphie, who had clearly been operating with a mentally unstable mindset for some time, could not handle the pressures and impending consequences for his actions. He called a meeting of the men and women involved with his super soldier program, and proceeded on a murderous rampage. We can only assume that he had hoped to eliminate any proof of his unthinkable actions. As he turned on his soldiers, I had no choice but to issue an order of deadly force to subdue him. There is footage to prove this event, however, it is too graphic to release on broadcasted air.

We are trying our best to determine if there are, in fact, other experimental soldiers amongst the civilian population. At the moment, it appears that Dorian Adelphie was the only person to have the ability to activate such soldiers, if they do exist. While we believe that the general public is now safe from such threats, we wish to determine exact persons involved so that we might be able to assess their damage and help them return to a normal life style. Until we can rest assured that none of Dorian Adelphie's actions will have other consequences, I will be acting as Prime Minister in his stead to complete the investigations. I ask that all countries lend me their support so that we can help those who need helping."

Heero and Trowa were crammed into the cockpit of Wing Zero. The two of them had landed about thirty five miles down the coast line to wait for their transport to Swift Trillion or a companion ship. They didn't know how long they would have to camp out, but the area had thorough coverage for their suits, and an unused hunting cabin for them to rest.

At about eight o'clock in the morning, while they were waiting on their retrieval, Quatre sent Heero a message. Of course, for him to send it and risk any tracking, the pilot figured it was important. He watched through it once before having Trowa join him.

"As far as I can tell, the footage appears to be legit," Wing Zero's pilot said as they watched over the images of Dorian Adelphie massacring a room full of people. They had already watched it twice.

"Yeah, but I have a feeling, if we look into it enough, we're going to find that it's been altered." Trowa shook his head, "Adelphie may be a monster, but I can't imagine a businessman who has haired assassins and a troop of hidden super soldiers would do his own dirty work."

Heero replayed the video one last time. "Agreed. Someone has worked very hard to deceive the public. More than likely, it's going to be Moira."

Trowa opted to leave the cockpit and sit on the edge of the opening to make room. While Wing Zero has a slightly large cockpit than the other of the core gundams, it was still not comfortable. The CSO gundams were more spacious, their interiors taking less equipment because of the way they were operated.

"I can't imagine Quatre is taking this very well," he said and breathed in deeply. The scent of the salt air blowing in from the ocean was rather pleasant, especially mixed with the morning sunlight.

"Why do you say that?"

Though Heero couldn't see since he was typing away on his keypad, Trowa looked as though he were trying to choose his words carefully. "You have to have been wondering how it is that CSO has seemed to know all of our plans."

Heero stopped typing and slid his monitor away from the cockpit opening. "I've been wondering since our POW rescue. Roberts, the guy who was essentially Sally's second in command, said that she had suspected there was a rat, but I don't think it was in her group."

"Moira Adelphie knew our plan almost down to the 'T.' We intentionally didn't tell Sally of our involvement, in case there was someone untrustworthy working with her," Trowa replied, confirming everything Yuy had left unsaid.

The two of them were silent for a good while. Almost fifteen minutes passed before Wing Zero's sensor system started to alert them of a nearing ship. It was the smaller companion ship of the Swift Trillion, the one that had stored Tallgeese and Spartan before their return to the Sanc Kingdom.

"We'll need to question her. We can't do that if she's knocked out," Trowa said as he took the lift cable to the base of Wing Zero.

"Hn."

000

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: I was motivated to get another chapter out before my busy few weeks because of the Endless Reflection Challenge. I've posted my little snippet, "His Daughter Is Not Weak." Of course, as a Wufei fan girl, I had to write about him.
> 
> In some cases, it could eventually take place in this story's universe. Is it likely? Probably not. I have essentially two final endings for the story, and it depends on the general opinion of the readers which way I go.
> 
> At this point, we are about halfway through the story. We now enter the next large "arch." With the death of Dorian Adelphie, the feel of the story changes because the enemy's tactics start to change drastically. (Hint/Spoiler: if you keep up with the show 'Arrow' at all, I basically threw my hands up in the air in defeat because of some of the plot similarities to his next half of the story.)
> 
> As always, I enjoy feedback, especially when it comes to the honest opinions on the characters and the plot. A reviewer some chapters ago mentioned all of the strong women in the canon world, and a disappointment that they weren't used. Not everyone cares of OCs, especially females, and I can understand that. Hopefully now readers can see the other ladies' involvements and why they were not necessarily actively on the battlefield.
> 
> Thank you to everyone! Hopefully I will be back in just a few weeks (and not haunted by anything I happen to bring back from the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum!)
> 
> Ever your servant,
> 
> A.F


	15. Part II: Verse I

After Colony: Revelation

Part II: Verse I

000

“I’ll leave you two.”

Relena had sat in the small ship chamber that they were using for Zech’s emergency surgery with Noin throughout the whole process. Once the Maganac Corps doctors and guest-nurses cleared the room, only the two women were left.

“You don’t have to go, Relena, he’s your brother,” Noin replied and tried to force a smile. The Sanc ruler shook her head and stood.

“He may be my brother by blood, but I hardly know the man. You’re the one who should remain by his side. I am going to check on the governors. They’ve been understanding enough with my absence. If something… If something changes, perhaps have one of the Maganac send for me?”

Noin nodded, “of course. Thank you. And please, if there is something going on that I should know about, don’t keep me in the dark. We are still fighting a war. I can’t stay out of it, just because Zechs is down for now.”

Relena sighed but gave her word before she left the room.

The former Lieutenant sat quietly for a few moments looking over the sleeping man before her. They had not had proper equipment for a full operation. He was under anesthesia, but knowing him, it wouldn’t last long. He would take at least twice the dosage of a _‘normal person.’_

“And probably _half_ of what they’d have to give to Heero,” Noin chuckled to herself with a sigh. Of course she was devastated by the fact that Zechs had been very near death only hours before, but this wasn’t exactly the first time. He constantly put himself in these sorts of positions. “Maybe we should retire after all of this is done. Go back to the terra-forming project on Mars.”

Now that the room had emptied out and the constant moving had stopped, the woman started to get chilly. She was still in her dress, after all. Thankfully, sitting besides Zech’s discarded coat was a spare, army green jacket. It was two sizes too large for her, but she wasn’t one to complain. After pulling it over her shoulders, she picked up Zech’s tuxedo jacket to throw away.

There was a lump in one of the pockets. She knew he wasn’t carrying a wallet—hardly any of them ever did, since anonymity was usually essential. Besides that, it was much too small. Noin fished around until she pulled it out. The first thing she noticed was that it was sticky from still-drying blood.

The second thing she noticed was that it was velvet.

“Oh Zechs,” she murmured and frowned, trying hard to blink back the forming tears in her eyes. She opened the box and gently pulled out the engagement ring inside. It was silver in color, though she couldn’t guess at what metal the ring was actually made out of. It had one diamond tightly set in the band, probably for added security.

Noin slid the ring on and looked at it under the light. She wanted to smile and thrilled that Zechs was looking to make their engagement official, but as she wiped a spot of blood from the metal, she found it very hard to do so.

“You better come back to me, you stupid, wonderful man.”

000

Altron and Red Horse docked on the rescue ship next to Wing Zero and HeavyArms. Some of the crew members rushed to get large tarps over the suits, just to be safe. Wufei was the first one out of his suit, and he did not wait for the woman. He was slightly embarrassed by the barely compromising situation he had woken up to when Edan nudged him off of her shoulder to rouse him. He went straight to where he presumed the steering was to find the other pilots.

Heero and Trowa watched him stalk the hallways via monitors as Heero finished wrapping up his injuries with the medical kit supplied to him. The blood from the wounds Edan had caused was mostly washed away, though some stained his white dress shirt, and his leg was securely bound to help with pain from the high heel. The bone may have been a bit bruised, but Heero was mostly happy she hadn’t been wearing flats at the time. The weight distribution may have been enough to cause a fracture.

“Did you see the footage I sent over to you?” Heero asked after Wufei entered and sat down again. “You look like hell. Did you get any sleep?”

Even Heero didn’t know how to interpret the angry look he received.

“Winner also sent it to me. I don’t believe a thing that Adelphie woman says for a moment. She clearly orchestrated the entire thing.”

“What about Edan, has she seen the video?” Trowa asked, grabbing an energy bar and a bottle of water for the other pilot. He set it down on the small side table, but did not force it upon him.

Wufei waved him off. “How should I know?” The aggravation was evident in his voice.

Pilots 01 and 03 exchanged looks with raised brows. “So, you didn’t show her,” Heero said, “good. That works. Quatre didn’t send it over to Red Horse.”

They could see her standing idly by from their window, watching as the crew ran about to most efficiently conduct their business.

“Is that… Is that your jacket, Wufei?” Trowa asked, intentionally giving the Chinese pilot a coy smile. Wufei’s frown deepened and he jumped back up, mumbling to himself as he left the room to find a shower.

000

“Tell us about Moira Adelphie,” Heero said sternly, his arms crossed against his chest. He and Trowa stood in one of the small meeting rooms of the Swift Trillion companion ship, on their way to meet with the others. They faced Edan, who was seated next to the computer system she was plugged into. After they found her a set of clothes, graciously donated by the women of the crew, they insisted that she answer their questions. They wanted to get information before she had a chance to meet with Isabella once more.

She agreed without any hesitation and even suggested she use a computer system to make communication faster.

_“Moira Adelphie, age twenty eight, eldest known child of Dorian Adelphie. She has been heading CSO’s research and development department since A.C. 195, but an active engineer since A.C.193. Though she plays it down, she is as much a genius as Isabella. She has patented most of her designs though pseudonyms to keep her father from turning her into one of his projects.”_ She gave the information so freely that Heero was suspicious.

“Does Adelphie know this? If not, why haven’t you told him?”

_“He never asked. It is my job to remain a silent observer, in most cases, nothing more.”_

The men shared glanced before Heero continued. “Does Moira have ambitions to head CSO?”

Edan tilted her head to the side, as if to wonder why they were asking her such things. _“She is to head the company after his retirement or passing. That is no secret.”_

“What is your involvement with her?” Trowa asked, though in a much kinder tone than Heero had been using for his line of questioning.

_“The same as with Adelphie or Isabella. I must serve, protect, and obey. She has never shown much direct interest in me. She most often used me as a test subject for her experiments. To be honest, I cannot remember all of the tests she has done on me. I have periods of time I cannot account for as a result of her experiments. I used to try to recall, but I stopped after the sixth instance. There was no point. I am, after all, nothing more than a barely-human guinea pig.”_ Edan shrugged but of course, showed no emotion. Reading her words from the screen, the pilots realized just how aware of her situation she actually was. _“Moira may play the role of charismatic entrepreneur, but she prefers her lab to people. She sees herself as above human, just as her father.  Humans---they are her playthings.”_

Heero immediately noted the fact that Edan referred to humans as “they” instead of “we.” “Have you been in contact with CSO since the time you joined us after our rescue of the POWs from the lunar base?”

_“Yes,”_ replied Edan without so much as a blink. The pilots tensed, ready to detain her as a traitor, but she continued. _“Project Pale Horse’s subject Death has tried to access my system on numerous occasions but has not been successful. Last night, someone using the handle of ‘Hades’ entered Adelphie’s codes to tap in while Isabella activated me. After, during the brief battle, Death warned me of the impending canon fire. Those have been my instances of contact.”_

Trowa and Heero turned their backs to Edan so that she could not see them. Trowa mouthed the name _Isabella_ and the other pilot shrugged. Their questioning had never really been about determining Edan’s loyalty. They faced her once more to continue their conversation, but they found her staring intently back at them.

_“May I speak freely?”_

“You’ve never had to ask. We aren’t your superiors. You may not believe it, but we’re much more alike than you think,” Trowa replied.

She did not respond for a few moments. The pilots, however, were patient.

_“I do not have happy memories. I did not think I could feel enjoyment or amusement. These past few weeks are all I have. I do not want her to take these memories from me.”_

“Who? Moira?”

_“Isabella.”_

000

“It seems CSO has cleared the area,” Quatre said into the monitor. Heero and Trowa were video conferencing with Swift Trillion. While Quatre was relieved to see both of them were alive and well, Heero looked like he would need a few days to recover from his brawl with Edan. “I can only assume that this has something to do with Moira’s ascension to Prime Minister.”

_“Yeah, that’s what we think as well,”_ Trowa replied, _“Edan says that she’s very intelligent. It’s possible we’ve been playing her game this entire time.”_

The blonde pilot nodded, bringing his hand to his chin and furrowing his brows. Their data on Moira Adelphie was very limited. She had never been seen as much of a threat compared to her father. Perhaps they should have been more suspicious of her when she helped them with the POW escape plan.

“Isabella is still unconscious. This is the second time that she has been unresponsive in our care, and it seems to be lasting much longer than the last time. I do not know when or even if she will be awakening. Do you think Edan—”

Heero shook his head. _“No, we’ve already asked her. She says that her connection with the others is only one way. She couldn’t access the Plague system even if she wanted to, which she doesn’t”_

“Is there something I should know about?” Quatre asked.

_“Nothing we care to share over an unsecure network.”_ Heero disconnected their call, which was perfectly fine since they would see each other in just about an hour anyhow. However, his words left a bad feeling in the pit of Quatre’s stomach.

What did he mean, _unsecure?_ Of course everything was secure, all they _used_ was secure. And yet, the Wing Zero pilot was uneasy.

The network would only be compromised if someone on the ship had altered it. It was not an easy task, especially with Howard’s top of the line technology. However, Quatre had no doubt that there was at least one person besides himself who could do it onboard. “Isabella…”

While he tried not to alarm anyone with his quick movements, he set straight off to the room where Isabella was left alone to recover, with only periodic visits from crew members to make sure she was still alive, if not moving.

“Quatre!” Lady Une called out to him as he briskly walked passed her, determination set his face. He raised his hand, signaling that he could not be stopped at the moment. She nodded and continued about her business. He was not sure what he would find, but he thought if Isabella had betrayed them, then she at least needed the chance to explain herself.

As he hurried down the steps, paths were cleared for him. No one remained in his way for long. Those who knew him also knew when it was best to leave him be. He waved to have one of the guards at the door open it for him. They did so then immediately vacated the area.

Isabella was still lying on the small bed, her eyes open and staring straight ahead. They did not dare remove the piece of technology that was plugged into her head. “I have the distinct feeling you can hear me,” Quatre said coolly. If she was listening, he wondered what she thought of his change in attitude. Did CSO know about his tendency to have psychotic break downs?

He put his hands into his pockets and sighed, walking slowly from one side of the bed to the other. “I don’t know what the others are going to do once they get here. We don’t want to believe that you’ve been playing us from the start, but right now, the evidence is stacking against you.”

There was no response, but he hadn’t necessarily expected one right away. He glanced around the room, almost enjoying the silence. He had only heard constant shouting and chaos for the past six hours, and his mind was simply tired. His eyes landed on the computer sitting safely in a bin to protect it from the rocking during their rough escape. While the ocean-induced turbulence had settled a few hours ago, the dark clouds rolling in led him to believe more would be coming.

“You’re lucky I’m the only one here who knows to suspect you. If it were Heero, maybe even Trowa as much as I had to admit it, you would probably already be dead. They don’t take chances when hundreds of lives are at stake. I’m willing to at least give you a shot at explaining yourself. Tell us what Moira is planning, and how you’re involved. If you’re in trouble, let us help you.” Quatre placed his hands squarely on the bed and stared down at the young woman. She looked almost angelic. Her pale blonde hair was coming out of its elaborate updo, but it looked almost intentional. Unlike the other rebel women working tirelessly to help the wounded and organize their next move, her dress was nearly pristine, minus a few wrinkles.

Quatre waited a few moments before speaking again. “Zechs was our enemy for a long time. He and his men killed many of our comrades. Wufei fought against us during Mariemaia’s regime. He also caused many deaths. We’re all still here, we’re all still fighting together. Come clean with us. You can make this right, and we can go back to being one big, rebel family.”

There was no sign of movement. The pilot sighed and shook his head. He went back to the door and pushed it open. Quatre waited until there were two more crew members to flag down. “Keep men at the door, round the clock.”

000

The skies turned dark early on as a rough, ocean storm rolled in. They were still far from the shore line, and had barely enough time to move Heero, Trowa, Wufei, and Edan to Swift Trillion before the two ships separated to put distance between them. They couldn’t risk a collision with the rough seas.

The two guards outside of Isabella’s cabin braced themselves against the turbulence. They stood dutifully, as they were told, despite no obvious sign for concern. When the announcement came over the loudspeaker for _all hands on deck_ , the two rock paper scissor-ed for who would have to stay on door duty while the other went to help in securing the ship and the governors.

It wasn’t long then until the remaining crew member heard a scream come from inside the cabin he was guarding. He opened the heavy metal door, finding the room dark.

“Hello? Ma’am? Are you okay? The captain recommends securing yourself in one of the bolted down chairs. There’s no need to be frightened,” the crew member called out into the darkened room. Hearing no response, he stepped in and searched for the power panel to click the light back on.

He was not expecting to receive a strong blow to the back of the head.

 

Isabella waited until he stepped in and whipped her laptop at the crew member, landing a direct hit to his skull. The force cracked the laptop, and put the member down on the ground for at least enough time for her to escape her cabin seclusion.

She looked down at her partially destroyed computer and then wound up, forcing it against the wall, again, again, and again. Once it was thoroughly broken up, Isabella took some of the laptops innards, just for good measure, though she doubted anyone would be able to rebuild it.

“Twenty five minutes,” the woman muttered to herself, “twenty five minutes, and I’m gone. I need clothes.”

She peeked out, making sure the area was clear. With no crew members to snatch her, Isabella lifted her blue skirt and stepped into the lit hallway. While the storm wasn’t planned, it provided her with the perfect coverage to flee the ship before Heero had the chance to get his hands on her.

It didn’t take long for her to find an abandoned bunk. Isabella stripped out of her dress, kicking it under one of the beds, and swiped a pair of dark, uniform pants, belting them tightly around her hips. She took a white tee shirt and canvas jacket from the same cabinet, but had to go to the other bunkmate’s wardrobe for a pair of smaller shoes. It was far from a perfect fit, but they would have to do in the circumstances.

As she went to leave the room, her eyes landed on a watch sitting in an open box on one of the cabin’s desks. She took that, too. “Eighteen minutes,” she breathed, rubbing her temple, “oh this isn’t good.”

000

Isabella hurried into the cockpit of Sandrock and took off her wet coat to keep from damaging any of the equipment. It was only a matter of time before the ship’s control system shut down and the crew inevitably noticed her disappearance. She didn’t have much time to act.

She could only blame herself.

She had developed an antivirus that simply worked too well. Her original plan was to leave a failsafe for her to shut down the Gundams whenever she wanted, but the pilots weren’t stupid. They figured out on their own that the Zero system could take what she created and make it better. She could no longer tamper with the suits. Even if Isabella managed to shut them down, the bit of Zero added in would counteract her without prompting.

Plans had moved up faster than she had anticipated. Isabella had no choice but to complete her mission and flee, now that her father was dead. There might have been some hiccups along the way—she hadn’t expected Moira to blow the entire Isle of Man facility, for example—but besides that, everything was according to plan.

Isabella infiltrated the rebel forces, collected what she needed from Project Black Horse’s _Famine_ , and bought Moira enough time to finish their designs. It took some time to get the pawns into place, and even now, the chessboard wasn’t perfect, but Isabella had to take her chances and leave before she was removed permanently.

The rain was coming down pretty hard. The shoes and pants she had stolen were almost completely soaked, but the heavy jacket was enough to cover her shirt. She needed to be able to dry her hands if she were going to go prying about in Sandrock’s insides.

Isabella bent down behind the leather chair and slid aside one of the panel latches to pull out one of the maintenance segments. It took her a few moments to find the drive she was looking for, but she eventually pulled removed what she needed. “Finally, I will get the chance to _really_ break you.”

As she pushed everything back into place, she could feel a familiar buzz in the back of her skull. Isabella secured the drive in a plastic bag and placed it into her inside pocket before throwing her jacket back on. Not to her surprise, Edan was standing in the rain below the cockpit.

She used the lift cable to drop down next to Edan. Right on cue the ship went completely dark. “DeBordaris will be here soon. We should have a clear escape,” Isabella said and reached out to the other woman.

Edan quickly stepped back, out of her reach. She shook her head. Isabella scowled.

“Listen, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you everything, but I just wasn’t sure what you would do. It will be better now, I promise. Father’s dead, you don’t have to listen to him anymore,” the blonde woman said, shoving her hand out once more for Edan to take. Edan just stared back—no, she _glared_ back.

Isabella was furious, and her scowl became a snarl. “You want to _stay?_ Then what? What do you think they’ll do to you once I’m gone? They’re going to believe you were in on the plan, and that you _helped_ me escape! They will turn on you—you are _nothing_ to them! You’re only good to them as long as you have value, and a weapon without a wielder has no value!”

Edan’s jaw clenched, as did her fists, but then they relaxed. Her shoulders slumped and her head bowed a bit. Isabella recognized the signs of forfeit. “Good,” she said and stepped forward. “Our pickup should be here momentarily.”

Isabella took the other woman’s arm and practically dragged her across the ship’s deck to a clear area.

 

“What happened?” Heero and Quatre were the first two to make it to the control room, where Howard and the technicians were working to get their ship operating once more. Though Swift Trillion had gone almost completely dark, the emergency lights illuminating the floor were enough for them to navigate the internal labyrinth.

Howard was on the floor, beneath one of the workstations, lying on his back. He had a flashlight awkwardly propped up between his shoulders and his head while he worked to unscrew one of the metal panels. “Someone managed to worm into the system to do a force shut down. Everything is offline. I can get it up and running, it’s just going to take a little bit of time to get through. I have to physically restart everything, one by one.”

“What can we do to help?” Quatre asked, picking up one of the extra, battery powered flashlights.

Howard shrugged. “Well, once I get—dammit!—the first start up going, you can use this control station to bring the basic communication up. It should work, as long as what caused this in the first place isn’t going to bring us down again.” He quickly brought his thumb to his mouth to suck away the bit of blood that started pouring from a cut. The metal he was working around was brutal enough in the light; the dark was just so much worse.

Quatre was immediately thrown into work. It was reassuring that Howard was so calm. It was something that he and the scientists who built the Gundams shared. No matter how awful a situation might seem, Howard never lost his cool. It helped put Quatre at ease as he waited for the first system to boot.

“Alright, here we go, it looks like I can get some of the other systems flipped on—wait! Ah, no, the system shut down command is still active. I think I can get it disabled. Howard, keep working to get the others active again, and I will try to cancel out the command before we have to start all over,” Quatre said with his determination showing in his words. It wasn’t too much of a task, especially when he didn’t have to worry about getting shot at.

Footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway. They were approaching fast, but stopped as there was a crash into the metal wall. Duo could be heard cursing as he limped into the room. “Man, oh man, is it dark,” he hissed and paced around the room with a distinct limp for a few moments. Quatre could only suspect that Duo had fallen victim to one of the numerous pipes that occasionally jutted out from the metal wall. “Isabella, she’s gone. Edan ran off as well. Wufei and Trowa are looking for them now.”

Heero nodded. “Quatre, I will leave this to you, we’ll find them.”

“Herro—!” Sandrock’s pilot turned from his seat to catch the other pilot before he could run out of the room. “Uh, well, just.. be careful. We don’t know what she’s planning.”

“Hn.”

 

Outside the storm raged on. The governors and most of the crew were below deck, and those who could help in Swift Trillion’s recovery were doing their best. Because of this, it meant that no one could be spared to watch the dark deck. A black and grey helicopter with the CSO logo flew through the rainy skies to hover ten yards above the deck.

Isabella tried to wipe away the rain from her eyes as she looked up, but it was no use. Her vision was blurry, especially with the bright spot lights in her face. Even if she couldn’t see him, she knew Vince DeBordaris was peering out through the open doors as he dropped a ladder down for both her and Edan.

Before she could even take firm hold of the rungs, gunshots were fired. She immediately froze up in utter fear when she felt pain in her right cheek. Slowly, she raised her hand to touch the area, and was surprised to find blood melded in with the rain and ocean mixture.

It wasn’t deep, in fact, it was barely a scratch. It was enough for her to get the message.

They knew.

“Isabella!” Heero called out to her through the thunder, and she turned, though it was hard to hear him. “Back away from the ladder!”

DeBoradris returned fire, though with the rain and the shaking helicopter, he was not as good of a shot.

Heero quickly took a few steps back, steadying himself, and then aimed at the figures in the helicopter. He couldn’t break the thick, triple layer Plexiglas of the vehicle, and at best, he could maybe hit the man shooting at him. If it hadn’t been so dark, he may have been able to recognize DeBordaris from their earlier communication.

After both realized that shooting wasn’t going to get them anywhere, Heero aimed back at Isabella. While shooting her wasn’t his ideal plan, he was willing to put her out of commission until they had the chance to interrogate her. His thoughts would have likely been shared by many soldiers, since the figure dropped down via cable to block Isabella.

Wing Zero’s pilot could then clearly see his opponent. While he was quite willing to have a showdown with the CSO soldier, he wished he wasn’t the only one holding a hand gun. DeBordaris, at least, could get off multiple shots with his semi-automatic if Heero missed.

_Well then_ , Heero thought, _I just won’t miss._

His bangs were matted to his face from the rain, and the water in his eyes made it hard to aim, but he was prepared to shoot a kill shot regardless.

For better or for worse, he wouldn’t have the chance. From the darkness to the left of Vince, Wufei shot out and brought his arm down on the soldier’s neck. The force of the blow was enough to bring DeBordaris down to his knee for a moment, but that was about it. Any pain he should have felt simply wasn’t there.

Wufei could hardly be surprised. He knew that the other man was the subject called _Death_ for the Pale Horse Project. It was only natural that he had also undergone significant neurosurgery like Edan.

Vince turned his firearm towards Wufei, but the Gundam pilot quickly stepped forward and grabbed his opponents arm, twisting it in such a way that allowed for a disarm. That hardly stopped the soldier from attacking, and they went to hand-to-hand combat.

The helicopter spotlight did its best to keep the area around its soldier well illuminated, but they moved around so much that it was too difficult. In an instant, they were throwing each other around in the dark, nearing the edge of the deck more and more.

Wufei was the swifter of the two.  He didn’t have too much of a problem dodging the larger man’s blows. Edan was honestly more challenging in their sparing sessions, and that was in broad daylight. He supposed it was possible that his opponent was having a hard time in the rain—if he wasn’t a natural martial artist, he was likely concentrating on his moves more than Wufei, who had already dealt some serious damage.

Just like Edan, however, Wufei’s blows hardly helped put his opponent down. If he had been against a normal human being, he would have already won from debilitating the man. Yet, since he felt no pain, Vince simply kept moving.

 

After Wufei had taken it upon himself to distract DeBordaris, Heero turned his attention back to Isabella. “One last time, _step away from the ladder.”_ The pilot watched as the woman turned to him. He could see her mind at work, trying to calculate the best plan. She waited just a moment or so, until Swift Trillion rocked in a particularly violent way, and grabbed Edan.

“Go ahead and shoot,” Isabella shouted, a cruel smile on her bleeding face, “try not to hit your new friend.” She used Edan as human shield while she twisted the ladder around her arm.

Heero’s jaw clenched. Even with the rain and rocking and the blaring light, he could see her head hanging in defeat. Isabella had done something to make her concede to abandoning them. When she looked up at him, and their gazes met, he knew what she was saying.

_Go ahead and shoot._

How many times had he at least _tried_ to sacrifice himself? He had lost count. He had never succeeded, and his current existence proved that. Heero always pressed the detonation switch without a second thought, but was always somewhat relieved whenever he woke up, alive and well, if badly injured. He wanted to _live._

And so did Edan, even if she didn’t know it yet.

He kept his gun trained on Isabella, though he knew he wouldn’t shoot until he had a clear shot.

 

Wufei thought he had finally downed the CSO soldier. It took two more blows to the back of the head, but Vince finally hit the metal grid of the deck. Just in time, too, as they were dangerously close to the railing, and even he worried about accidentally going overboard with the severe rocking they faced.

He glanced back to see if Heero had succeeded in taking out Isabella for only a moment, before reaching down to Vince. While he detested his opponent for using his numbness to his advantage instead of fighting the good fight, he wasn’t willing to let him slide down into the water some stories below.

Vince, on the other hand, had different ideas.

In one swift motion, DeBordaris pushed himself up while Wufei was leaning over him, and lifted the smaller male into the air.

As he plummeted toward the water, Wufei cursed himself for even thinking about trying to save the CSO soldier. Ever since Treize’s death, however, he felt it was his duty to give worthy opponents an honorable death, if the time came.

But Vince DeBordaris wasn’t a worthy opponent. There was nothing honorable about him or the life he led, and Wufei should have let him drown.

 

Edan turned her head to see what it was that caused Vince to laugh, and immediately noticed Wufei’s absence. Isabella also noticed, and let out an equally cruel laugh. “Look, now there’s nothing to—”

Isabella got her second shock for the night when Edan twirled around, pulled her arm back, and punched her squarely in the face. Whenever she abandoned the blonde’s side, the CSO helicopter shut off its spotlight in hopes of keeping Heero from shooting. He did let out another shot but, as far as he could tell, he missed since Isabella fell first clutching her likely broken nose and shrieking. Had her arm not been twisted in the ladder, she would have been on the ground.

The darkness didn’t stop Edan from sprinting for one of the loose ropes that was used to secure Sandrock. Once it was in her sights, not the rain or the rocking could stop her. She tied it around her waist without missing a beat as she ran for the side of the deck.

Heero looked between where Isabella was being hoisted into helicopter and where Edan was leaping. He had to make a choice between helping to save his comrade or to possibly capture traitor. With a frustrated groan, he tossed the gun to the side and ran after Edan. He and Vince passed by one another, but they didn’t spare even a glance.

The spotlight flipped back on, and DeBordaris was on the ladder, climbing up to help secure Isabella in place. As they passed by, the helicopter had just enough light to illuminate the flexible bungee cord the entire way to the water. Edan, he assumed, was still attached to it, though he couldn’t see her.

The Wing Zero pilot paced around the edge of the deck, hoping to see if one of the two resurfaced, but he couldn’t see anything. The dark waters blended with the blanket of the night.

 

“Okay, okay,” Quatre said from spot at the work station, “we are fully running. Complete system reboot in ten, nine, you okay Howard? Six, five, four, three… Ah! Much better!” The lights to the control room clicked back on, and he let out a relieved sigh. Soon, the monitors would load their footage and their radar would kick back on.

As the final bits of the initial reload happened, Trowa came into the room. “I’ve searched everywhere in this section. I can’t find Edan or Isabella, and I haven’t seen the others. Wufei and I split, after the first level. I’ve been shouting, but he hasn’t responded.”

Quatre started to scour the monitors with furrowed brows in hope of finding someone they recognized either in the masses or in one of the abandoned areas. “Heero ran off without telling me where he was going first. I wouldn’t be surprised if he started on the deck first… yes! Look!” He pointed to one of the corner monitors and held it there until a figure dashed across the screen. “That’s got to be him!”

“I don’t see anyone else though, did he find them, or is he still looking? I’m going out there.” Trowa didn’t wait for anything further before he left the room again in a rush. Quatre, on the other hand, continued watching the screen.

“Wait a moment,” he muttered, mostly to himself rather than to anyone in the room, “that cord, that shouldn’t be there…” He looked around on the panels to find the controls for the cameras and toyed around until he could get it to move. He followed the mysterious cord until he could go no further. “That looks like… oh no…”

Quatre abandoned his post, leaving the rest of the work to the technicians, and went running from the control room.

Now that the lights had flared to life, the halls were starting to fill once more. He had no remorse for the people he pushed away. While they wanted to get out of the stuffy cabins, everyone could see him sprinting full force. If they chose not to move, then that was on them.

“Move aside!” One of the crew members pushed himself against the wall and shouted down the corridor to the others. The authority in his voice rang clear, and he received an immediate response.

Quatre shouted back a _thank you_ , and kept moving. Once he neared the outside hatch, he grabbed one of the larger crew members. “Come with me, we might need help.” Together, the two men pushed open the door, fighting against the force of the weather outside, and stepped into the darkness.

A familiar emptiness in his stomach returned, the one Quatre knew to be a bad omen. Outside, he looked to the cord that was pulling from near Sandrock. It stretched the entire way across the deck, which he followed to find Trowa and Heero holding floodlights aimed at the vicious waters below. “What’s going on?”

“Wufei was thrown overboard! Edan went after him!” Heero shouted back at Quatre, but didn’t turn his attention from the water. They could see where the cord met ocean, but they couldn’t see either person.

Quatre’s breath caught in his throat. Drowning. That was not the way any of them expected to go. It wasn’t the same as death in battle. “Get more floodlights!” He shouted at the extra crew member, hoping that he would know where to find the devices. Even if he didn’t, he ran off anyhow to try to be of some help.

 

Edan didn’t waste a moment diving into the cold waters of the Atlantic. Wufei had already been in the water for at least sixty seconds by the time she broke through. Once the lights of the helicopter momentarily illuminated the area, she managed to catch sight of his head struggling to stay above the water.

It was a battle trying to swim against the current, but it was all she could do once the chopper left her in the dark again. It took what seemed like ages to reach the area Edan had seen Wufei. Never had she been more frustrated or angry at herself for her missing voice. If he could see her, he certainly wasn’t calling to her.

She dove under the surface and mostly felt around, since she could hardly see. Once she had a few feet of light, likely thanks to Heero from the ship’s deck, it made it easier to cover more territory.

Just as Edan was about to reluctantly resurface, her leg struck something sinking lower and lower. She flipped around and grabbed hold of it, immensely relieved to feel it was an arm. The current was too strong for her to carry him to the surface, so she made every effort to wrap the excess of her cord around his torso as many times as she could until it was taut.

Edan used all of her remaining strength to pull them up the length of the submerged rope. She could feel herself starting to black out from holding her breath for so long, and barely managed to get her arm out of the water before she couldn’t hold it any longer.

From the deck of Swift Trillion, Trowa shouted, “there!” He tossed his light aside and started to pull on the cord. Though Heero hadn’t seen whatever it was Trowa pointed at, he followed the other pilot’s lead and grabbed hold as well.

Quatre remained attentive, watching to see who emerged from the darkness. His face lit up and he joined the forming line. “It’s them, it’s them! She has him!” The three Gundam pilots and two crew members—they had run to help in the search—all started slowly moving back along the deck. It was hard, at first, since the metal flooring was soaked, and they couldn’t get any traction. They worked out a system and were able to keep moving at a reasonable pace.

Edan was fading in and out of consciousness, still trying to cough up the salt water and catch her breath. Whenever her head just started to hang, she and Wufei would smack against the rocking ship, and she would jolt awake again. They must have hit the siding five or six times, but she wasn’t counting. She was having a hard enough time trying to protect Wufei’s skull from the metal, much less her own.

When they reached the edge of the deck, arms swarmed her, helping to hoist her and Wufei back onboard. They hit the ground roughly, and she let out a mix of a sigh and a cough as she remained on her back. Trowa was the first one to set to work trying to untie the cord from her bruised waist. She probably would have been proud of her knot-tying ability, if she had the strength to care.

Once she was free, Edan rolled away from the others so they could turn their full attention to the Gundam pilot. She was content enough to sit on her own, on the sidelines, trying to get the ocean from her lungs and stomach.

Heero barely had time to remove the wrapped cord before Trowa was back in action, providing CPR on the unresponsive Wufei. While he wished it wasn’t the case, Trowa was likely the most experienced, having to do it on numerous occasions during his time with the circus.

Quatre rushed back inside to radio for a medic and two gurneys. Despite the odds not looking good—Trowa was spending more time than he should have had to, if Wufei was going to start breathing again—he acted anyhow. Quatre had learned that Wufei, like the other Gundam pilots, was a survivor. Heero had fought through his self detonation, and Trowa hadn’t given up while lost in space.

Wufei surely wasn’t going to let a little bit of water do him in.

And Quatre’s instincts were right, as usual. By the time the gurneys arrived, Wufei was on his side, heaving as the liquid left his body.

He was disoriented and shaking, but mostly, Wufei couldn’t for the life of him, figure out how he went from sinking in the ocean to flopping around one the deck. “Where is he?” Wufei croaked, trying to wipe the water from his eyes.

“He’s gone,” Heero responded, placing his hand on the pilot’s shoulder, “don’t move around too much. You just came back from the dead.”

Wufei barely noticed him. When the gurney arrived, his comrades struggled to get him onto the bed. He did not like feeling helpless or needy.

It ultimately took both Heero and Trowa to get Wufei to lie down, and stay down. Though he struggled against the men, Wing Zero’s pilot tightened his grip. “Wufei, if you think I won’t strap you down, you’re severely mistaken.” It seemed his words were enough to make Wufei reconsider his fighting position, and he reluctantly stilled.

Trowa glanced up at Heero. He cracked a quick smile before quickly suppressing it. They were both very much relieved that Wufei was still with them, but as he struggled against them, he vaguely reminded Trowa of a wet cat trying to fight getting a bath. “You’re lucky to be alive. Just relax and let the medics take a look at you.”

The two pilots helped to lift the gurney over the lip of the door before allowing the crew members to take over.

Behind them, Quatre was working to coerce Edan to the medics as well. She sat huddled up, shaking her head and waving him off.

“Miss Edan, we just want to make sure you’re okay. We can discuss things after. Your arm has reopened and you’re bleeding. Please, just let us take care of you,” he begged, offering her his hand. Quatre didn’t push the matter further, but he kept his arm extended while he knelt down on the wet metal. She stared back at him, as if wonder if his kindness was a trick. After a few moments nothing but a soft smile, she took his hand with her relatively uninjured arm.

Quatre helped her to stand and balance on the rocking ship before leaving her to lie on the gurney on her own. Unlike Wufei, she did not fight. Edan covered her eyes with her wet arm, and they wheeled her inside to take a better look at her.

Before he followed in, the pilot turned and looked up at Sandrock. Nothing appeared to be obviously off with his mobile suit, but as he reached up and touched the metal, Quatre knew there was something. He decided it was best to leave any further investigation until after the storm cleared. For now, he had about a dozen governors and other refugee-party guests to check up on.

“What happened out there?” Trowa asked Heero, once they were sheltered within Swift Trillion. They were both complete messes, with water practically pouring from drenched clothing. They other pilot was the first one to pull off his shirt and ring it out. Trowa didn’t bother, but he did slick his hair back out of his eyes.

Heero shook his head. “Find Duo. Once Wufei is good enough to at least sit in on a meeting, get everyone together. I’m going to see what I can dig up on Moira Adelphie and Vince DeBordaris. We might want to see if we can find anything further on Isabella as well. Relena may be a starting point there.”

“That’s all you,” Trowa said and held his hands up in front of him, “I’m not going near that one with a ten foot pole.”

“Yeah,” Heero replied flatly, “I know.

000

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes: So, if you happened to notice the chapter titles, you may have noticed the addition of “Part II.” As I said at the end of the last chapter, this chapter starts basically an entirely new story arch. Their original enemy, Dorian, is dead. Isabella, who had been “part” of the rebellion since the start of the story has left. The group dynamic will be changing because their battlefield is also changing.
> 
> This is also the chapter I picked up writing at after a two year hiatus. If you haven’t noticed a change in writing styles and character development, I won’t be surprised if you start to pick up on it. I am very interested in knowing your thoughts as readers.
> 
> If this all seems convoluted… Just remember that in the show, people switched sides whenever they felt like it (*Zechs*) and usually had relatively dumb reasons for doing so (*Zechs-leading-White-Fang.*) The enemies also seemed to change every five episodes (“It’s Oz, no it’s Romefeller, no, it’s the Treize Faction, wait no, it’s back to Oz.) So… having a change in the villains is actually kind of canon!
> 
> To everyone else bearing with me, thank you! I hope you will enjoy Part II!
> 
> Ever your servant,
> 
> A.F


	16. Part II: Verse II

After Colony: Revelation

Part II: Verse II

000

 

It wasn’t until mid-morning that the pilots were able to reconvene. Howard spent the night making sure all of the systems were fully repaired, and opted not to join them. He told them they could catch him up on anything noteworthy, since he had nothing on CSO that could provide benefit. Noin did decide to sit in. Though no one had pushed her to leave Zech’s side, she asked Relena to watch over him. It was mostly to keep Relena from trying to sit in on the strategy meeting.

Edan was not present. Until they could all agree on what to do with her, she remained locked in a cabin. If it upset her that they chose to keep her secluded, she did not show it nor fight it.

It was an absolutely gorgeous morning. The sun was shining without a cloud in the sky. All traces of the storm had been completely blown away. Unfortunately, the beautiful weather did nothing to settle their moods as they sat in the meeting room on the topmost deck, surrounded by windows.

They all appeared exhausted except for Heero, who had no problem ignoring the chaos and storm, and passed right out after his dreadful conversation with Relena. Pilots 02, 03, and 04 were all on their third or fourth cup of coffee for the morning, and the dark circles around their eyes proved that they needed it. They had been sure there would be an attack from Moira’s CSO troops that night, but nothing came.

Wufei had been up for most of the night with medics and barely caught a wink of sleep. He was sipping on soda water to ease his burning throat since regular water was completely out of the question.

“That chopper was fully equipped with military grade rounds. They could have tried to sink us, but they didn’t,” Heero said, arms across his chest, “I believe we are safe as long as we have the governors on board.”

“I’m inclined to believe you. If Moira’s coup was staged to be just when the public turned on Adelphie, then she isn’t going to do something to risk tarnishing her image as a reform leader,” Quatre replied. He stirred around his spoon in his coffee mug, watching as the sugar dissolved. He couldn’t stand the taste of black coffee.

Duo, on the other hand, chose to _only_ drink it black. During the chaos outside the previous night, he was inside, helping with injured. Once the power was cut, and everything went dark, more than one person found themselves disoriented and panicked. One of the guests had what seemed like the start of a mental break down, and started lashing out at the women acting as nurses.

He had been searching for Edan and Isabella when he heard the hysteria, and jumped in to restrain the man. Duo couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty. He had misjudged the force needed to keep the panicked man down, and accidentally dislocated the man’s shoulder. Once the lights kicked back on, one of the women immediately used a syringe to knock him out and keep him at bay until everything calmed down.

Apparently, the gundam pilot managed to come at a good time, since the man was preparing to repeatedly bash a woman’s head in the ground. Duo sat and consoled her for longer than her cared too—at least while the ship was in such a state of chaos. When he finally managed to pull himself out of her thankful and frightened grip, the excitement outside had already come to a conclusion.

“You know,” he said and stretched, “we’re usually a pretty good judge of character. I don’t think we’ve ever had another moment where someone has intentionally infiltrated with the intention of betraying us.”

Wufei scowled and looked severely offended. “I told you we couldn’t trust her. I never _stopped_ telling you we couldn’t trust her.”

“You sure didn’t try to do anything to convince us after Edan joined us though,” Trowa said quietly, turning his attention to the froth fizzling away in his coffee.

“I’m not sure what you _mean,_ ” Wufei replied, with an edge in his voice. The other pilot didn’t respond, he only shrugged and started to loudly sip his drink.

“Boys,” Noin said loudly, cutting the building tension in the room. “You can mock each other later. For now, can we get to the point? So, Isabella turned on us. What we need to figure out is: was this her plan from the beginning, or did something happened that caused her to flee?”

Wufei leaned back with a silent, _‘hmph,’_ and opted not to respond. Trowa was quiet as well, deciding to continue to stare at his coffee mug.

“We have to assume this was her plan from the start,” Heero finally said, unfazed by the others, “we feel that the timing of Moira’s take over was simply too convenient to have not been meticulously planned. If she is in league with her sister, then Isabella made it a point to join us for a reason. We just don’t know what… yet.”

Quatre cleared his throat and set down his porcelain mug. “Actually, I have some information that could help. I checked on Sandrock this morning. Edan informed me that she found Isabella inside the cockpit, but she did not know why. After doing a thorough check, I discovered that the driver containing the Zero system is missing. As I think you all know, my suit was the only other one to have the Zero system loaded into it, at Heero’s request.”

“I had never let Isabella do manual maintenance on Wing Zero without my supervision. She would not have known where to find the Zero system, since Wing is designed a bit differently from the others. If her aim was to take it, she was probably looking for an opportunity to get in without anyone noticing,” Heero explained before nodding to Quatre to continue.

“I, on the other hand, did allow Isabella into Sandrock. I’m sure you’re all absolutely shocked that I was trusting enough to do so,” Quatre said with a sad smile. He always wanted to see the best in people, and that often came back to bite him. “If I were to take a stab at it, I would say that she noticed that Sandrock had the Zero system when she added in the voice feature for the Red Horse connection. Of course, she couldn’t take it then without us noticing. She would have had to wait until she had an escape route. She must have been in contact with CSO frequently to set this up. It would explain how they knew about our POW rescue and the Isle of Man attempt.”

“Sounds logical enough,” Duo said and reclined in his swivel chair with his hands behind his head, “what about Edan? Was she in on it?”

“There is very little doubt in my mind that she’s involved,” Noin replied quickly, raising her hand in defense of coming objections, “I know, I know, she took a bullet subduing the CSO spy that shot Zechs, but if she’s Isabella’s… _flunky_ … I just can’t believe that she wasn’t at least partially aware of an underlying plot.”

The others were silent for a moment before Trowa spoke again. “I honestly believe that she does not want to be part of CSO and Isabella’s plans. I can’t say for sure how much she knew, but someone who would dive three stories into deadly waters to save another person isn’t someone who would _willingly_ turn against us.”

Noin started to object, but then shook her head. “You’re right, I’m sorry, I just… if it weren’t for Isabella, Sally might be alive and Zechs might not be laying in critical condition. I want someone to be angry at.”

“We understand that,” Quatre replied, “we’ve all been there. But be mad at Isabella, and Moira, and CSO. Be mad at just them.” He flashed her a smile, and Noin couldn’t help but nod.

“What have you dug up on Moira?” Trowa asked, trying his best to move the conversation forward before any tension could return to the room. They didn’t have much time to strategize, especially with the first wave of governors being unloaded later that day.

 “Moira Adelphie,” Heero said and grabbed a small remote sitting towards the center of the round table. Trowa went ahead and drew the blinds to darken the room while the projector warmed up. “We already know the basics—Adelphie’s first born daughter, head of Research and Development for CSO. Until recently, there was been no indication that she was involved with the Horsemen projects, besides the fact she is apparently in a relationship with DeBordaris. Despite the neurochips being developed in her department, it seems she may have made every effort to keep her name from appearing on any of the research.”

“How do we know all of this? Hasn’t CSO upped their security since Isabella rejoined them?” Noin asked, intently watching as lists of names flashed before her eyes.

“They have,” Trowa replied and returned to his seat. “However, because we had our own suspicions, Edan was able to use access codes for a short period of time to allow us to make copies of some databases. Unfortunately, she was shut out before we could get anything substantial to prove Moira’s involvement. The codes she was using were some of Isabella’s—who probably didn’t realize Edan had learned to use them.”

“Why are some of these names in red?” Wufei finally decided to join the conversations.

Heero selected the red names and dragged them onto a document for easier comparison. “These are all names who have contributed key pieces to the later neurochip designs. They start appearing in lat A.C. 193 and continue on even now.”

“Minerva Hartle, phD, Janus L. Evanch, phD, Mikaela Eros, Carolyn Cronin, Hestia M. Flavian, phD, Virgil Marcasee… These names all have something to do with Greek or Roman mythology,” Quatre said thoughtfully, tapping his cheek. “It could be a coincidence but somehow, I doubt it.”

“Edan told us that Moira has been publishing and patenting under pseudonyms for years. She worked just hard enough to earn herself a comfortable position in her father’s company, but not enough for him to consider putting an implant into her skull. While a neurochip could have further advanced her existing brilliance, she did not want to give Adelphie the opportunity to control her. All of these names in red—they don’t exist. There is no record of these people ever existing.” Heero continued to relay the information that he knew, thankful for the time he and Trowa had with the silent woman before returning to the Swift Trillion.

“We don’t have enough information to fully determine her intent. It is quite possible that Moira has been behind a large portion of the Horsemen projects. If we are to assume that she is behind each of these identities, then we can conclude that the final control chips were her doing. Edan received hers in mid A.C. 195, two years after Moira started with CSO,” Heero explained and clicked forward in the slide show. A detailed blue print of a neurochip covered the screen.

The instructions were incomplete and coded. Heero suspected that there were numerous versions of the blueprints to keep others from copying the patented product. One thing that they did know was that the majority of the metal plates were Gundamium, making them incredibly durable.

“Stop,” Duo said suddenly as the clicking continued, “go back two slides, yeah, there. It looks like the designs started changing at this version. Look at the year, 196, this is the version that came after Edan’s surgery. The box on the bottom calls it Gen Two.”

Wufei perked up and looked at the diagram further. “Zechs was shot by a CSO spy who called Edan a ‘Gen One.’ She said something indication that there were problems with the ‘Gen Ones.’ Perhaps the patients at the Isle of Man were all ‘Gen One,’ and the sleeper cells we’ve been told about are ‘Gen Two,’ or something to that effect. Possibly even later versions if Moira is perfecting the neurochip system.”

“At this point, it’s safe to say that Moira Adelphie has been the brains behind CSO for almost a decade,” Heero said and crossed his arms.

“Dorian was likely an unwitting figurehead. He was so bent on power that he didn’t even notice that he and his resources were being used by his own daughter,” Quatre replied with a shrug, staring down at his near-empty mug. “To be honest, there’s a part of me that thinks he probably would’ve been proud that his flesh and blood was smart enough to do all that. Another part of me though thinks he definitely would’ve turned her into one of his projects.”

The group seemed to agree on that matter as they all nodded.

“Well, now, I think the next order of business is Edan. Do we keep her locked up? My vote is ‘no.’” Trowa leaned back, looking around the table. Quatre met his eyes and nodded. Duo and Noin diverted their gazes when his fell upon them. Wufei stared straight ahead, as if he were looking at something else all together.

“Listen,” Duo started slowly, putting a hand in his hair and ruffling it slightly, “I know—we all know—how you and Quatre feel on the matter. I just… I don’t see how you can be so trusting after what Isabella did. Edan was first and foremost her lackey. Just because Isabella’s gone doesn’t mean Edan isn’t still doing her job. Willingly or not, of course.”

Noin shrugged and nodded. “I agree. I see your point with her rescue last night, but until I can get Zechs moved, at the very least, I would feel more comfortable if she wasn’t free to roam.”

“Okay. What about you, Wufei, what do you think the matter? Should we keep your savior locked up like a beast?” Trowa asked, his voice completely even, without batting an eye.

Wufei turned to him, a look of annoyance and displeasure washing over him. “I have no opinion on the matter. Do whatever you want.”

There’s a chance Trowa would have chuckled, if he hadn’t been above that, when he watched his fellow pilot jump up and head for the door. Wufei—also so predictable. When he had even the slightest inkling of being harassed, he always left the room. He couldn’t seem to take a joke.

“I guess we’re split then. Heero, it’s up to you.”

 

A few hours after their meeting came to an end, Edan was roaming about the Swift Trillion.

000

Two days later, Swift Trillion was unloading the remainder of the governors. They thought it best to separate their precious cargo so that if CSO decided to attack, the governors were spread out and had a better chance to escape. So far, their enemy had been silent—well, besides the continuous broadcasts from Moira Adelphie, who felt the need to prove she was making amends.

Trowa crossed the deck and tapped Edan with an icy bottle of water. She took it, but did not spare him a glance. “I was half expecting you to sneak off with everyone else,” he said and cracked open his own bottle. “This is your last chance you know, you could disappear. Go become someone else. No one would blame you.”

The woman stared at the droplets of condensation dripping down the bottle and into her hand. From their vantage point, they had a perfect view of the trucks that were picking up the governors, as well as Zechs, Noin, and Une. Trowa suspected that the thought of leaving had probably crossed Edan’s mind.

“Is Wufei still avoiding you?”

Edan shrugged and turned around to lean against the railing. The trucks below were slowly pulling away, one by one.

“He doesn’t like feeling weak. But then, you know that by now,” Trowa said. They stood quietly together, enjoying the comfortable breeze passing over the deck. The sun was setting and they would be launching back into another night of travel until they hit their own drop off point. Quatre had thought it best to get the gundams unloaded during the cover of night. “If I were you, I think I would give him a black eye.”

He couldn’t be sure, but Trowa thought he saw the corners of Edan’s mouth twitch upwards just slightly.

Edan stood up straight again and waved her water bottle at him. The pilots had started to learn to translate her body language, and Trowa was usually the best at determining what she was saying.

_“Thank you for this.”_

“You’re welcome,” he replied, just so she knew he understood.

Heero didn’t fully trust her, but he still accepted Edan’s aid against CSO. Duo made every effort to not be left alone with her, while Quatre, on the other hand, wanted to essentially hold one of one counseling sessions. Wufei… well, no one was quite sure about his stance. The more they poked fun at him, the more he avoided the woman.

Trowa liked her certainly better than he liked Isabella. While he had known she had her own personality, behind the forced act of a perfect soldier, he was anticipating seeing even more, now that she didn’t have to constantly trail Isabella.

 

With the help of the Swift Trillion crew, the five core gundams and red Horse were unloaded in just a few short hours. Howard agreed to hold onto the Tallgeese and Sparta until Zechs and Noin needed them. There was no point unloading them and leaving them somewhere for someone else to find. He also had to hold onto White Horse. No one else could pilot the suit anyhow, without Isabella’s connection, and they weren’t sure if CSO could do a remote detonation. Instead of risking rebel lives, Howard said he would place it in a safe house.

“The plan is to meet up with Lieutenant Carlino. He has been in contact with some of the largest rebel fighting groups, and he can help us assess our standings amongst the public. It will be hard to make a worthwhile stand against CSO if we do not have enough global support. We need to get everyone acting at once to keep CSO from getting the upper hand with their advanced technology. At the very least, sheer numbers should help overwhelm them,” Heero said and climbed aboard the waiting convoy.

Quatre and Trowa joined him, sitting in the back seat. None of them were particularly knowledgeable about the Portugese coastline, which meant that they had to rely on the divers provided to them by the loyal rebel leader. Though they had little reason to believe that they should be concerned; all of the pilots, even Edan, were armed.

There was another vehicle waiting. Duo practically dove into the front seat and started a conversation with the driver: a ranking member of the rebel forces, based upon the two white feather patches sewn into his sleeve. Edan and Wufei climbed in after, remaining quiet.

The drive through the forest was smooth in the fact that there no problems along the way. Physically, it was anything _but_ smooth. The roads, if they could be called roads, were uneven and overgrown. They frequently jerked to one side to avoid large holes. At one point, Duo was sure that his convoy had gone up on two wheels.

Even Heero was gripping the handle on his side of extra security.

When they pulled up, the make shift base was crawling with activity. The fact that no one immediately pulled weapons on them put the pilots at a bit of ease.

“Carlino is waiting,” said Heero’s driver, “he wants to speak with you straight away. We have bunks made up for all of you. I trust the woman won’t have a problem sharing if she’s traveling with you?”

Wing Zero’s pilot glanced back at the other convoy. “No, no problems. We’re all soldiers.”

The driver nodded. “I’m Decker, it’s an honor to work with you, sir.” He stepped aside and held his arm out to direct Heero to the busiest of the tents.

A path was cleared for him as he pushed the canvas flap to the side and entered. The commanding officer was against the others side, his back turned towards Heero. His uniform was the closest to true military dressing—in fact, the gundam pilot was relatively sure it had been an OZ uniform at one point.

“I’m assuming we’re the ones represented by the angels?” Heero said, interrupting the hushed conversation taking place.

There was a table set up in the center of the room with a detailed map of Europe spread across it. Small, dark pieces were covering known CSO areas. Mini figurines in the shape of winged creatures littered rebel camp sites. There were ten pieces that were larger than the rest. White, grey, red, yellow, and green angels represented the core gundams. Two were painted with blue and red, which Heero decided represented Noin and Zechs suits. There were three others that were painted black, each with a splash of either red, white, or green—the CSO built suits.

“They’re calling us the Seraphs,” Carlino stated and stepped forward, “I suppose it’s only appropriate, since we’re up against the Four Horsemen. Lieutenant Joseph Carlino, good to meet you.”

The rebel leader extended his hand, which the pilot took. “Heero Yuy. One of the Horsemen is fighting _for_ us.”

Carlino gave a slight smile, almost as if he were just humoring Heero. He picked up the black and red angel, flipping it over in his hand. “Until recently, you would have said two of them were on our side.”

Of course, _technically_ , two still were—Duo was slated to be one of the Horsemen as well, though those plans were interrupted. Heero decided it was best not to bring up that information, since it was not widely known intel. “The pilot codenamed _War_ is still with us and fighting against CSO. That is all you need to know.”

The two men stared at one another, the air around them becoming oppressively thick. Heero was not surprised. It was not uncommon for ranking war veterans to doubt his authority. His size, stature, and his general appearance made it hard to be taken seriously. However, Carlino was the first one to break away, submitting to the gundam pilot.

“Understood,” said the rebel leader, roughly placing the angel figure back on the table, setting it with the group representing the core gundams.

“What’s the word with our other major supporters?” Heero asked, clearing the air. “How many have backed down with Dorian Adelphie’s death?”

Carlino looked down at the large map and reached out, removing groups of mini angel figurines from the board. Almost one third were removed entirely—in fact, their Portugese base was the only one remaining in the southwest section. “Most of our European and American rebel bases have broken up. They were the first ones to decide to give Moira a chance to make things right. Their nations, however, were also the ones to retain most of their power. I’m not surprised they aren’t concerned, since Moira is allowing them to self govern again, and even hold armaments. But then, what’s the threat if she can shut them down whenever she wants.”

“Where do we have the most support, then?”

“Most of our South America divisions have remained intact—some have even grown. We all know about the massacres that happened during CSO’s take over. They were extremely offended by the way Moira only seemed interested in the Isle of Man incident. Our East Asia divisions are mostly in full force as well. They have all had a large number of people taken as POWs, who have never been seen again. After the footage was released of the human experimentation, those divisions now believe they know what happened to their comrades.”

Heero crossed his arms and evaluated the map in front of him. “Some of the East Asia factions are our largest supporters. They have the most usable mobile suits and pilots out of everyone, besides the Arab nations with the Maganac. We still have a chance if we want to remove the CSO threat.”

“I agree,” replied Carlino, “but we will have to act simultaneously. If we give CSO a chance to target civilians, I have no doubt that they will use them as hostages to keep our rebel forces at bay. We can only hope that if the disbanded factions see us fighting, they will join us and ensure the tides are in our favor.”

“Then that’s what we will have to do. If you think that this camp is secure enough, we will wait until we can get in touch with the other commanders and line up a strategy.” Heero reached out and took the black and white angel. White Horse may have been with the rebels, but _Plague_ was back in CSO hands. He placed the figurine down next to Pale Horse’s last known location before turning and exiting the tent.

000

Most of the camp retired for the night around one in the morning, though rounds were routinely run to keep everything secured. Wufei was lying in his bunk, just a few yards away from Duo, who was contently snoring away. No matter what he did, Wufei could not make the other pilot keep quiet.

“I’m going to smother him...” Deciding it would cause a scene if he were caught holding a pillow over the braided fool’s face, Wufei opted to throw the scratchy green blanket to the side and leave the tent.

Trowa and Quatre were unfazed by the snoring as they lay in comfortable slumber. They were both on their sides, facing the canvas tenting, with Trowa on the top bunk. Heero had not yet turned in for the night, and Wufei wouldn’t have been surprised if he stayed up all night plotting with the Lieutenant.

Edan’s bed above his went untouched as well, Wufei noticed. It only took him a few minutes to find her sitting on a lopsided bench, staring at the dying fire ahead of her. Pulling together all of his resolve, the pilot slowly approached her from the side before taking a seat next to her. The bench was so uneven that it sunk under his weight and lifted her about an inch higher.

“I would ask if Maxwell’s snoring bothered you, but you haven’t even stepped for in there all night,” he said and leaned forward, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Those were the first words he had said to the woman since before she had dove into the frigid North Sea to save his life. Edan showed no signs of hearing him. She barely even blinked as she continued to gaze off at the flames.

“It is very hard for me to say _thank you,_ ” Wufei said with an aggravated sigh, “I am frustrated because I shouldn’t have let myself fall into that position in the first place. _I_ should have thrown _him_ overboard…”

As he clenched his jaw and shook his head, Edan reached down to pick up a stuck at her side. She used her shoe to flatten the dirt in front of her before tracing letters into the soot.

_Not your style._

Wufei stared at the words with furrowed brows. “What, throwing someone overboard?” She nodded in response, and he cracked a small smirk before quietly saying, “yeah… not my style.”

He placed his hands on the edge of the bench just behind him, and leaned back, looking up at the almost-full-moon. It was a nice night, and he was happy to be back on solid ground, even if it meant having to share a tent with Duo. It was hard to believe that just about three weeks ago, they were arriving on the Swift Trillion after their Isle of Man failure.

“There’s a clearing through that patch of trees,” Wufei said suddenly, nodding towards a bit of forest in front of them, “we could spar until we’re too tired to care about Maxwell’s noise.”

Edan immediately sat straight and perked up, almost like a cat with a toy dangled in front of her. Wufei took that as her answer and stood, leading the way until they had completely disappeared from the camp site.

It was almost four o’clock when the pair stumbled into the pilots’ tent, searching in the dark for one of their ration kits. Edan found hers first and practically tore the water bottle cap off to gulp down half of it before tossing it at Wufei. He caught it and finished it.

“Some of us are trying to sleep,” Trowa said in response to their panting and the crinkling of the plastic bottle. He didn’t sound angry, and if Wufei hadn’t known better, he would have said the other pilot was amused.

Wufei’s amends were made with the woman, and he swore to ignore any insinuations made by the other pilots. He would never admit how much he appreciated Edan’s company, but he would do what little he could to at least keep her around even if it meant enduring a bit of harassment.

000

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes: I know, this one was somewhat boring. But sometimes, transitions are just necessary. Zechs and Noin are officially out of the picture—though they will make appearances in the story, they will not be back in front of the pilots. They will be acting in a different, but necessary capacity—as is needed in a rebellion. Une is with them, Dorothy and Relena are with some of the governors running PR interference for the pilots.
> 
>  


	17. Part II: Verse III

After Colony: Revelation

Part II: Verse III

000

 

“You are truly marvelous,” Moira sighed lovingly while pulling off her headpiece and setting it down next to her holographic keyboard.

“Why yes, I am fully aware,” Isabella replied. Her half sister had been on the earth for all of six hours, and she was already secluded in one of the CSO labs, toying with the stolen Zero system.

The dark haired woman pursed her lips. “You are a genetically modified and neurologically enhanced project; the science that made you is marvelous, you are nothing more than a product. I, on the other hand,” Moira said and swiveled her chair, crossing her legs, “am truly a gift from God.”

“Modest as ever,” Isabella replied with a bitter smile. “Why do I continue working for you, again?”

“Because you want to be on the winning side of this little skirmish.”

“This little _skirmish_ involves hundreds of thousands opposing you— _us._ Did it ever occur to you that maybe we’re the ones who are wrong?” Isabella leaned on the side of the chair, playing with a few strands of hair that had fallen from her messy ponytail. It was only because Moira seemed to be in a good enough mood that she chose to bring up the topic.

“Humans as a whole are vile, primitive creatures who will not hesitate to destroy themselves if given the chance. It is up to those of us who have surpassed the rest of mankind to help move us into the next era. Our species will not survive otherwise. I would say, ‘you’re either with me, or against me,’ but you’re smart enough to know what will happen if you’re against me.” Moira watched her younger sister for a few moments with her cool smile still planted to her face. When they did not speak again, she spun back to her monitor.

Isabella stood and headed back to the door. “Phase One of Revelation is set to being in eighteen hours. The Gen Twos we sent should be arriving in Rio de Janeiro in just a few. By the time we start into Phase Two, hopefully you’ll be done with the Hades enhancement.”

“It will certainly be ready for Phase Two,” Moira said, and started to tap away at her keyboard. Isabella watched her for a few moments before she started to walk away. She only managed to get about two feet away before Moira called to her once more. “Isabella, I wonder, how many times did it cross your mind to betray me, once you had Edan with you? Surely the thought of her, with the Gundam pilots fighting, against me and winning came up at least once.”

Isabella did not respond. Moira could not see her, of course, since she was in the hallway. Still, the younger Adelphie child’s pause was enough to give Moira exactly what she wanted. Isabella clenched her jaw, which still ached with the rest of her once perfect face from Edan’s punch, and walked away to find her own seclusion.

 

The pilots, including Edan, gathered in Carlino’s command tent after breakfast to hear the plan he and Heero had created. There was just enough room to fit the seven of them, plus a few other rebels coming in and out.

Wufei looked visibly tired, with dark circles beneath his eyes. Even so, he did not utter a word in complaint. Edan stood in the corner, repeatedly tossing the black and red angel figurine back and forth between her hands.

“You were so loud coming in last night,” Duo said, yawning loudly, “don’t you have any common courtesy?”

Wufei shot him a glare, but keep his mouth tightly shut.

“Alright, listen up,” Carlino called out, cutting off any confrontation the pilots may have had before it could start. “We started receiving alerts to CSO movement in our active South American regions. Just two hours ago, well known reform politician Natalia Vitore touched down just outside of Rio de Janeiro. Her return to Brazil is sudden, and completely suspicious. To make matters worse, there are two individuals believed to be CSO spies accompanying her. Any attempt to warn her security has been rejected.”

The rebel leader took a file from one of the entering soldiers and flipped through the pages. He pulled out two and tossed them onto the map, disrupting the remaining figurines. The sheets of paper were enlarged photos of a middle aged woman with dark hair and rich, tan skin wearing a pants suit, and two suited men on either side of her.

Wufei craned his neck to look at the pictures, then moved past Quatre to pick one up. “This one,” he said, turning it and tapping the man on the left, “I know him. I fought against him on the Lunar base. Here, take a look.”

He passed them over to Edan. She tilted her head to the side, and held her hand up, signaling for a pen.

Carlino, who had not yet interacted with the woman, look clearly confused. “What’s wrong with her? Why isn’t she talking?”

“Miss Edan is mute, Lieutenant,” Quatre said quickly. He pulled a pen from his pocket and clicked it.

_Tomas Bourque and Nicholas Metzier. Gen Two._

Edan scribbled on the back of the photos before giving them back to Wufei.

“Yes, that does sound familiar. Lieutenant Carlino, she says that these two both are CSO projects from their super soldier program. That being said, Vitore may be held hostage,” Wufei said, tossing the images back on the tabletop for Heero to see next.

“You said you couldn’t get a message through her security,” Heero said flatly. He waited for the rebel leader to nod before he continued. “My gut tells me she’s working with CSO—or _part_ of CSO.”

Carlino shot a glance at the now-idle Edan before turning to Heero. “I don’t understand the difference.”

The pilot didn’t answer right away. Instead, Quatre was the first one to gasp in realization. “You can’t possibly think… You do, don’t you? You think she’s one of them.”

Heero shrugged, “we can’t be sure, anymore.”

“I realized you’ve been deeply involved with CSO and have more information than the rest of the rebel forces,” Carlino said loudly, drawing attention back on him. “But feel free to elaborate any time now.”

“Apologies, Lieutenant Carlino, we often get ahead of ourselves and forget to explain.” Quatre, ever the diplomat, stepped forward. “What Heero is getting at is the fact that we can no longer be sure who has been subjected to the CSO sleeper cell program. Of course she may be willingly allied with the organization, but what if she isn’t? If she has been activated in a similar fashion, she would be acting against her will, but would show no signs of being coerced.”

The rebel leader did not seem to buy into the theory as easily as the others. “That seems rather improbable. Doesn’t it seem more likely that she has just turned traitor.”

“You would rather think that a well known reform leader and activist has suddenly turned? All we are saying is that we should be considering all of the possibilities,” Quatre said.

The rebel leader seemed to concede, even if he had more to say on the topic. “Beyond the fact that we can’t get in touch with Vitore or any of her security, there has been an increase in CSO activity. While Vitore and these spies have returned to the city, most of the soldiers stationed in and around Rio de Janerio have started to leave. We are currently tracking their movements, and though we can’t be completely sure, it almost appears as if they are creating a perimeter within a ten mile radius.”

“This sounds like siege warfare,” Duo finally said. He had been quite content to sit in his chair, which was backwards, and rest his head in his arms. Heero suspected it had less to do with disinterested in the conversation, and more to do with disliking Carlino. “Though that’s pretty hard to do when there are not walls to keep people.”

“Men with weapons can make quite effective walls,” Carlino replied coolly.

“What about the other photos you have—anything we need to know about?” Quatre asked, nodding to the two remaining papers in the Lieutenants hands.

Carlino paused for a moment before deciding to throw the photos down, face up. They were different images, taken in different areas, but they both showed the same thing: a metallic, white device that appeared to be a filter. Judging by their surroundings, they weren’t very large—maybe only a yard or so wide, and just about as tall. At first glance, they could have been commercial air filters.

“I’ve seen this,” Quatre said, brows furrowed as he turned the images to get a better look.

“Yeah,” Heero replied, “so have I.”

000

An hour later, the pilots were working together with their limited equipment to remove one of the large, lower back panels to Red Horse. The rebel crews had chosen to steer clear after they saw the gundam flare to life and tower over them. Edan had maneuvered her mobile suit into the clearing she and Wufei used for sparring, and awkwardly laid the suit on its front, barely leaving enough room for her to get out of the cockpit.

“You’re sure this is where it is? Heero asked, using an industrial drill to quickly unscrew some of the bolts that held paneling in place.

Quatre shrugged and ran his free hand through his blonde hair, “well, yeah, that’s what the schematics say. Edan seems to know exactly where to look. We’re just going to have to pull a few sections apart before we can get to it.”

Between the other four pilots and Edan, they managed to reach their goal after about forty-five minutes of labor. They were covered in dirt and oil, with a few scrapes from the exposed metal plating as well. The woman immediately pushed her torso through the small opening they had created while Trowa held her legs in place, and a _‘click’_ was heard.

“I think she’s released it, we just need the crane to pull it out,” Trowa called out from over his shoulder.

“Here it comes,” Duo shouted back from his spot on the ground. The rebel mechanics had provided them with a portable crane usually used in military vehicle repair. The pilot tested the joystick before carefully sending it over to Trowa and Heero, who guided the claw down and around the device. Once he had the thumbs up, Duo withdrew the claw and brought the crane neck back over the grass.

Wufei waved his arm, directing Duo and watching as the device was lowered down to the ground. The metallic white casing was a bit scratched, but it seemed unharmed otherwise. “Alright, we’re good,” he said, signaling the others to join him.

They gathered on the ground once more, surrounding the piece they had retrieving from Red Horse. “Well that’s great,” Duo said, scratching the back of his head, “now, uh, what is it?”

Heero dropped a smaller tool kit at his side and knelt down, inspecting the device. “Howard said something about this when we were rebuilding Red Horse. This part, this filter here, is a design that is similar to a biological warfare dispersal unit. According to the schematics, this particular piece is used to help filter and diffuse some of the tainted energy after it’s passed through the core unit.”

Suddenly, the other pilots took a quick step back. “So what you’re saying… is that this could potentially be radioactive,” Trowa said, giving a glance to Quatre. They slowly took another few steps away from the device before them.

“Theoretically.” Heero ran his hands along the edges, looking for the metal seams to try to dismantle the metallic white casing.

Edan reached out and placed a hand on his arms, stopping him. The two pilots looked at one another for a few moments before Heero nodded and stood again. He slid the tool case over to the woman and then stepped away to join Quatre and Trowa while she sat cross-legged on the ground.

“She thinks it’s dangerous,” Quatre whispered, more to himself than anyone else. Trowa placed a hand on his shoulder and allowed himself to be reluctantly guided away. “Shouldn’t we at least try to do a bit more research before we let her tear it open? Maybe it’s completely harmless…”

“We don’t have time,” Heero replied. He stared straight ahead as he continued to walk, putting more distance between his self and the device. “Someone has to open it.”

Even if the kind hearted pilot disagreed, he continued walking, casting his eyes to the side sadly. They entered the tree line and soon, Edan was out of sight.

“Come on, Wufei, we don’t want to be standing right here if that thing blows of something,” Duo said, urging his fellow pilot to put some distance between him and Edan. He reached out to try to pull Wufei away, but all he managed to get was an indignant glare. “Fine, man, it’ll be your funeral.”

When Duo was behind him, Wufei gave that same glare to Edan, who simply stared back at him. They remained like that for a good few moments before he finally gave a _‘hmph,’_ and turned his back to her. “I hope you know what you’re doing. I would rather not have this camp site go up in an atomic blast.”

He waited for just one more moment. Perhaps deep down he was hoping she would change her mind and give them a chance to examine the device before cracking it open. When he heard no signs of her attempting to back off or even moving at all, he walked away.

Once she was left alone, Edan picked up with Heero’s search, looking for the section that was screwed together. The case itself was too heavy for her to move, but there was just enough space beneath the edge for her to use a short, hand screwdriver to remove the pieces one by one.

 

“Well, there’s no explosion, that’s a good sign,” Duo sighed and wiped his hands on his pants. While the pilots waited on the results of the device, he had taken it upon himself to break every twig within his reach to little pieces. He reached for the last one at his side, but Wufei quickly stepped on it. Duo him an annoyed scowl, but then jumped up and stretched. “Should we go check on her?”

Heero’s head shot to the side, and his eyes narrowed as if focusing in on something. “She’s coming here.” He continued watching the section of trees they themselves had walked through, and indeed he was correct. Edan barely broke through the tree line before he saw her waving them back. “We’re set, let’s go look.”

When the men cautiously approached the now-disassembled-device, Edan was holding something up to the sky, watching as the light refracted off of the piece.

“No explosives, that’s kind of a shock,” Trowa said, looking down at the device’s insides. “It _actually_ looks just like a flirtation system. What are those pieces inside? A cooling system? Sort of looks like cooling gel…”

Quatre frowned and raised a brow. “I don’t think so. If it was a cooling gel, I think the viscosity would be different.” There were small, cylinder vials filled with a yellow-gold liquid set in the center of the filtration system. There were ten vials, all about two inches in diameter, secured in place by tubing that connected them to each other. Below, there was another layer of vials of a light blue color.

“It looks like the white shell is just a coating,” Trowa said, running his hands along the inside of the device. “This is a different metal. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this came back as gundanium.”

Duo crouched down and tried to pull one of the blue vials out, since Edan was holding a yellow one. “That doesn’t make sense—damn, these are really in there tight—Heero said that they were being massed produced, according to Howard. Anything with even a piece of gundanium alloy is extremely hard to get a hold of. Ah! Got it!” He stood up against and held it against Edan’s vial for comparison.

“Be extremely careful,” Quatre warned, “we don’t know what’s inside of those. I wish I could say that I believed this was just a simple filtration system, but I have a bad feeling in my gut.”

“Well, we all know to never doubt your gut, Q,” Duo replied with a shrug, “but if it’s a CSO project, I don’t trust it… Uh, no offense Edan.”

The woman looked confused, for a brief moment, but then seemed to glare at the braided pilot. Quatre thought she might have scowled if she had the ability to show that much emotion. “Let’s get this back to camp and see if we can dig up information—where it was made, who made it, and what happened to other units produced with it. I will track down a lab that will let me use their resources to try to figure out if we need to be concerned.”

“Do you want me to go with you?” Trowa asked as he took the vials from both Edan and Duo.

“No,” Quatre replied with a soft smile, “no, I will be okay. I think it would be more inconspicuous for me to travel alone. I will see if perhaps Rashid can meet up with me. I’m going to have to leave Sandrock behind. If trouble breaks out, you will likely all be needed.”

000

The closest, fully equipped lab Quatre could access was across the Portuguese boarder and into Spain. He had to line up a few different rides with rebel contacts to manage to get through without suspicion. While CSO currently showed no signs of military action, he simply couldn’t find it in himself to think Moira any better than her father.

“Don’t worry Rashid, I will be fine,” the gundam pilot said with sigh, “meet up with me outside of Seville if you have a chance. I will hopefully be at Villafana Laboratorio. I will stay in touch as much as I can. Stay safe.”

He ended their conversation and slipped his phone back into his pocket while his driver turned up his music just a little bit louder. Quatre tried to put his head back and rest, but it was terribly difficult with the poor stereo system’s pounding bass. Since the driver was gracious enough to risk his own safety to help the gundam pilots, Quatre felt he had no right to ask for him to turn the music down.

He had been on the road for a good few hours, though only with this particular driver for about an hour. Quatre knew he only had a little over an hour left before he would reach his destination, and hopefully, his paranoia would be at ease.

Until he could say for sure what was in the supposed filtration unit popping up in CSO control cities, Quatre would continue to glance behind him, just to make sure his carrying case was safe.

Just as he thought he could rest his eyes for a few moments, the gundam pilot’s phone started to buzz from his pocket. With a barely audible groan, he rolled his eyes and pulled his phone out once more. “Unbelievable,” he muttered and put the phone to his ear, “Quatre here.”

_“Emergency broadcast,”_ Heero’s voice said from the other end of the line, _“flip through the radio until you catch it.”_

Quatre didn’t hesitate to start channel surfing, to the annoyance of his driver, until he caught what sounded like a Hispanic news station. His Spanish was a little bit rusty, but he was able to get the majority of the broadcast.

“ _-we are still waiting for updates on the Brazilian attack. We do not know the details, but we do know that the first wave of rescue crews are unresponsive. Communication ceased once they reached the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. News crews have been banned from the area, and all air traffic has been restricted. It seems—one moment, we are receiving and update.”_

The announcer’s microphone was cut off briefly while Quatre assumed he read whatever information was coming in. The gundam pilot sat on the edge of his sear, as if leaning closer to the car’s speakers would help him hear and understand better. Even the driver was now paying attention.

_“Okay, we’re back. It seems it was some sort of biological warfare agent that was released into the air from numerous points through the city. Whatever it was, it has affected nearly a five kilometer diameter from the heart of Rio de Janeiro. Reports are coming in of CSO soldiers aiding in the evacuation of civilians. With rising winds, the warfare agent is expected to spread. Please, stay with us while we wait for more information.”_

Quatre was absolutely speechless—more so than he was with Moira’s sudden coup de tate.

_“You there, Quatre?”_ Heero’s voice said, reminding him that he was still on the phone.

“Yeah—yeah, I’m here,” Quatre replied, his voice catching as he cleared his throat. “This is exactly what Carlino was afraid of. I cannot believe CSO would fall to attack civilians.”

_“Moira,”_ Heero corrected, “ _some of the soldiers look genuinely shocked, according to the video coverage. Find out what’s in those filters as soon as you can.”_

Quatre nodded to himself, rubbing his eyes. “What are you guys going to do? Are you going to try to get over there?”

“ _No point. By the time we could make it to the other side of the world, another attack could have happened. We’re going to try to stop the next one before it starts.”_

They disconnected without another word.

From the very beginning, Quatre had known that this was not like the other wars they had fought. In the past, even their most ruthless enemy had some semblance of honor. CSO’s usage of their ‘supercomputer’ to suppress uprising, Adelphie’s human testing, and now terrorist attacks… Everything had been done due to a desire to control, rather than rule.

The Adelphies didn’t take over because they thought they could govern better than the Earth Sphere Unified Nations, unlike Mariemaia. They did it because _they wanted to._ That was it; that was all. They did it for their own amusement.

As Quatre quickly used his phone to do a search for further information on the attacks, there was only one thing that crossed his mind…

_While his horse continued galloping, he was bending his bow in order to spread pestilence abroad. At his back swung the brass quiver filled with poisoned arrows, containing the germs of all diseases._

000

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes: Phew, now we have the plot of the second arch started! Hopefully it’s easy to see why the pilots are more necessary than their actual gundams now.


	18. Part II: Verse IV

After Colony: Revelation

Part II: Verse IV

000

 

At the rebel camp, tensions were running high. The soldiers crowded around televisions and computer monitors, watching as the horrors of the Rio de Janeiro ‘bombing’ unfolded.

“How can we fight _that_ ,” one of the soldiers, Erikson, said in disgust. It was less of a question and more of disdained statement.

Carlino leaned against a chair, gripping the edges as tightly as his jaw was clenched. “Do you honestly expect me to believe that your CSO _ally_ had no idea about any of this?”

Heero did not provide the Lieutenant with a response. He stood silently, watching the screen in front of him.

“What intelligence do we have from our South American divisions? What about Vitore? Her location?” Trowa asked, trying to move the conversation onto more pressing matters.

Carlino shot one more look to Heero before responding to the question. “We haven’t heard much. Vitore called a last minute press conference in the center of the city, requesting the attendance of many other peace minded individuals. As far as we know, they were all included in the attack. There were a few other people _claiming_ to be ranking CSO officials, but I’ve never heard of any of them. They also haven’t been heard from since before the attack. They’re likely going to try to pin this on us, ‘the Seraphs.’”

“If there’s anything I’ve learned,” Duo said, his voice low with warning, “it’s that as soon as a group has a name, they’re liable to become someone’s boogeyman. Remember White Fang? They were just a rebel group until they named themselves. Then they were terrorists.”

The Lieutenant put his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose, tightly squeezing. “Moira was the first one to start calling us ‘the Seraphs.’”

“Now we have biological _and_ psychological warfare.” Duo hung his head and sighed. “You know, there used to be a time when we were the smart ones—the guys always two steps ahead.”

“That was when we were the ace up the sleeve, not the rest of the deck,” Trowa said evenly. There was no sarcasm, no humor, just… a statement. He sat down and pulled one of the laptops to him, resuming his research. After he had managed a secure network, his primary task was to find the source of the filter manufacturing.

Duo nodded and gave a _‘ha.’_ “Never thought I would see the day when we became old news. I’m going to go… do anything else but stand here.”

000

It was two days later when Moria made her first appearance on television. For the second time since her rise to Prime Minister, her face could be found everywhere—every news network, paper and magazine had her image front and center.

Though she appeared to be behind a table with a microphone in a meeting room filled with pro-CSO reporters to ask her questions, it was only her holographic image. She was not foolish enough to step out into public and risk her life.

“Thank you all for coming,” her digital doppelganger started, her voice ringing out through the room’s speakers for everyone to hear. “I wish I could meet with you under less dire circumstances. However, that is not the case. We cannot dismiss the terrible tragedy that has befallen the poor souls in the Brazilian territory. The lives that were lost in a single day are almost equal to all those lost during Dorian Adelphie’s regime. It cannot be forgotten; it cannot be forgiven.”

The real Moira watched the surveillance monitors as she spoke, taking in the scene of reporters. Some nodded in solemn agreement; others teared up out of sadness or anger. Few showed any signs of doubting her--but that was the point of selecting who was allowed to be in her presence. Only favorable reports would come from this press conference.

“The greater Rio de Janeiro area has been evacuated and quarantined, indefinitely. Until we have had ample time to test the air and soil, we cannot allow any re-entrance into the city. We have yet to identify the agent that was released into the air, as we do not know what lasting effects there will be. Our organization will be working around the clock to provide housing for those who have been displaced as well as a remedy for the warfare agent.”

Immediately, hands shot into the air with questions—likely, _where will this housing be?, who qualifies for this housing?_ and _what leads do you have on the agent?_

“What we do know, at the moment, is this—the agent that was released is some sort of virus, manufactured and unnatural. When inhaled, it causes sickness within a matter of hours, shutting down the neurological and respiratory systems. It is extremely deadly. However, we hope to quickly create a vaccine, which we will distribute through qualified centers. I promise you that we will do our very best to stop these attacks before they happen. In order to ensure your own survival, I recommend getting to one of these centers as soon as a vaccine is available, in case your town or city becomes a target as well. We cannot let these terrorists, these… _Seraphs_ … win.”

There, that was it. Moira had planted the seed of destruction in their minds. With her control over the media outlets, newsources would take the idea and run with it. They would immediately question her quick conclusion, but her slow trickle of ‘proof’ and goodwill towards the survivors would skew belief in her favor.

The gundam pilots tried _so hard_ all of the time. But it was just so easy to turn them into scapegoats. Everyone wants someone to blame for their troubles, and the five, outlaw men were the poster boys for chaos. She could only pursue her total conquest while the public believed her to have someone to fight against.

000

With Moira’s press conference on behind him, Quatre typed away at his computer. The frustration he was feeling was evident by the way he furiously clicked away, and the quiet muttering he did to himself. It was rare for the kind hearted young man to lose his cool, but if he ever met Moira Adelphie directly, he had half a mind to sock her one.

His research had concluded only a short time before. Quatre felt he had honestly learned all he could and was preparing to send out an in depth analysis to his fellow pilots and some of the central rebel leaders.

“Virus?” He said with disgust, a scowl on his face as he stopped and looked at the television screen. “Now you’re flat out lying!” As he proceeded to slide together a slew of relatively light insults, Quatre was glad he was left in the lab alone. He would be embarrassed if anyone else saw his behavior.

His typing became heavier and he shook his head as Moira called out the rebels, the Seraphs, for the terrorist attacks. Quatre knew that CSO had kept anyone from getting too close to the ghost town-city in order to control the public’s perceived understanding on the attack. If there was one thing he was completely sure, it was the fact that the biological warfare agent was _not_ a virus.

Quatre slowed his typing and then stopped, standing. “Why would you encourage someone to get a vaccine… for a virus that doesn’t exist?” He crossed the room to a small box filled with vials that held a champagne-pink colored liquid.

Something didn’t feel right.

He shut the lid on the box and locked it tight before placing it on a shelf littered with miscellaneous storage supplies. It was better not to leave the precious liquid sitting out in the open.

For no known reason, Quatre could feel his heart start to pound. He rushed back into his seat, nearly sliding away on the wheels. His message was almost done—he had to get it out, in case something happened to him.

_“Next question,_ ” said Moira Adelphie’s voice from the screen behind him. He hardly registered her words until it was too late. _“Yes, we do have some leads on the manufacturer of the device used to release the agent. It seems that the gundanium alloy used to case the device was a customer commission filled by the Winner Corporation. We will be pursuing this lead quite seriously.”_

By the time Quatre realized what he had heard, the doors behind him were already being shot open. He barely had enough time to press _send_ on his email before a gas filled the room.

000

“We’ve got Quatre’s analysis,” Heero called out as he pushed aside the flap to the tent they used as a ‘mess hall.’ The skies had darkened and threatened to open up at any moment, and none of them wanted to get caught with a plate of drenched food.

The three remaining pilots and Edan finished scraping at their dishes before they quickly ran to the small shack housing most of their computer equipment. Just as the door shut behind them, the downpour started. Unfortunately, that also meant that they could end up losing power and only able to run the bare necessities if a storm kicked up.

“The results?” Wufei stood just a bit behind Heero at the computer, his arms crossed and brows furrowed.

“Not good,” Heero grunted, “CSO is lying about the virus. There is no virus. The tubes hold two compounds that create a toxin when mixed. Once it’s been inhaled, there is no going back. It starts shutting down the organs and is fatal within hours. Whatever CSO is doing at their medical clinics, it isn’t vaccines.”

“Do you know anything about this?” Wufei turned a bit, looking over at Edan. From her corner of the room, she shook her head. “I thought as much.”

Duo let out a semi audible exhale and shook his head. “You know what’s horrifying? Thinking about how long Moira’s been planning this. Creating a two part toxin like that and finding a way to disperse them through a relatively commonplace filter design… This has been years in the making. How did no one catch this? How was it that CSO—Dorian and Moira—how could they just slip under the radar?”

“For so many years, the focus has been on the colonies,” Trowa replied, “so no one noticed what was happening on Earth.”

“War has revolved around the mobile suits—“

“—and the dolls—“

“—and the gundams—“

“—that we’ve stopped thinking about people,” Wufei said and walked away from the computer. He instead looked at the table littered with pictures. They were random snapshots of persons of interests—faces in crowds. Just people.

“Dorian Adelphie’s focus was controlling people through weapons. Moira’s is controlling people through people.” With that, the room fell silent and Heero resumed scanning through Quatre’s findings.

It wasn’t until the next morning that Trowa started to suspect something was wrong with his fellow pilot. Quatre had not checked in during his usual times, and they couldn’t get a hold of any of their men stationed around the lab in Seville.

 

 

“We’ve got to go,” Duo said for the third time, pulling a bit at his hair in frustration. “If that’s the next attack location, we need to get someone over there to dismantle the device. We can’t just wait around until something else happens.”

“I know that,” Trowa replied with a slight edge in his voice, “but Quatre would want us to exhaust every other option before we split up and possibly instigate an attack.”

The braided pilot flopped into one of the swivel chairs and let his head roll as he groaned. Trowa could only handle Duo spinning around for so long before he finally sighed and slid away from his computer. “Fine, you’re right. We need to go. Start getting the gundams loaded onto carriers. I will go tell Heero we’re leaving.”

With each hour that went by with no contact from Quatre, their concern grew. There was increased movement by CSO troops, with reports of groups entering at the Spanish border. If they were going to try to stop a repeat of Rio de Janeiro, they needed to act fast.

When Trowa finally tracked down Heero, he found him leaning over a table and exchanging tense words with Carlino.

“Apologies for interrupting,” Trowa said after a moment, looking between the two men who seemed to be in a heated debate. “Duo and I will be leaving shortly to head to Seville.”

Carlino seemed to hang his head in defeat as he exhaled loudly.

Heero turned to face the other pilot, ignoring the lieutenant. “Good. We will send reinforcements just behind you in case you need back up.”

“—I’m telling you, it’s a ploy—“

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a ploy,” Heero said loudly, not looking back at Carlino, “the fact is that we’re missing Quatre and CSO is circling the city just like Rio de Janeiro. We can’t afford to sit here, holed up.”

“If something else happens, you’ll still have Wufei and Edan. We’re lucky we’ve all been able to stay together as long as we have. We may be reaching the point where we have to split up. If you want to have some of the men tail about an hour behind us, that’s fine. Have them lay low though so they don’t blow our cover too soon.” Trowa and Heero gave each other nods before they parted.

Carlino still seemed to have words to say, but Heero wasn’t going to stop Trowa.

In just over an hour, the pair of pilots were on their way. Each were driving their own carriers, with tarps securely over their gundams.  It would be a tough ride in some parts—they had to take all matter of absurd routes in order to avoid any patrols while they entered into Spain, and it would take them longer than they would have liked. That hardly stopped them, though.

000

“We’re going to have to ditch the suits,” Duo groaned, slouching against the steering wheel of his carrier. “I’m picking up all kinds of broadcasting activity. We won’t be able to get much farther without drawing attention to ourselves.”

Seville was _crawling_ with CSO activity. They were still a good ten or so miles from the main city, but there wasn’t a suitable place to cover their gundams if they continued on. If they were going to try to get to the labs that Quatre had last reported from, they were going to have to be less conspicuous.

_“My satellite search shows that there is a storage facility nearby, and it doesn’t look like it’s in use,”_ Trowa replied over their secured radio line.

“Doesn’t _look_ like it’s in use?” Duo asked, pulling up a satellite map on his phone. He toggled around until he found the area Trowa was talking about. There was, indeed, a large vehicle storage area. The main structure was half collapsed, but could probably still fit one of their suits and maybe part of the others. “Oh, huh, yeah, looks clear.”

The two pilots shifted gears and pulled away from the side of the road, rerouting towards the storage area. It would put them a little further away from the city than they would have liked, but it was better than drawing fire and being stopped from reaching the lab.

 

It didn’t take them long to safely get pack away Heavyarms and Deathscythe, the former being secured with full cover while they opted to keep Deathsyche’s lower half sticking out. His black wings helped to provide extra thermal coverage beneath the heavy transport tarp.

There was an old maintenance truck that was housed inside. After siphoning off some fuel from their suit carriers, Trowa was able to hotwire the vehicle. It wouldn’t last very long, but they felt it would be good enough to get them closer to civilization.

CSO mobile suits, the Seals, caused quite a bit of commotion with the city’s commuters. However, despite any inconvenience, they were not restricting travel into the city. They were merely… watching it.

“I don’t like this,” Duo muttered, craning his neck as they continued down the freeway to watch the towering mechas. “They’re targeting the city. It’s got to be more than just Quatre’s lab work. They’re going use the warfare device. How long do you think we have?”

Trowa didn’t answer. It was too hard to gauge how much time they would have before they were in serious trouble.

“Vitore called an emergency meeting before the device went off. I bet one of the ambassadors in this area will try to do the same thing. That’s when we will know for sure. We know how to dismantle the device—assuming it’s the same exact set up as the one from Red Horse. My best time two and a half minutes. We can do this. We can definitely do this.” Even as Duo spoke, he didn’t sound nearly as convincing as he thought he would.

 

They made it into the city without much of a fuss. As they had expected, their truck had barely enough gas and over all power to make it into the city. It would take them another half hour to walk to the laboratory Quatre had been working in when he was last heard from.

They had almost reached their destination when they stopped next to an electronic store and catch a news report saying that the goodwill ambassador from the U.K. was requesting a conference to broadcast his thoughts on the routes to peace. Apparently, there was a children’s art center set up for the conference—and it was only about two blocks from the laboratory. The rebels had less than an hour to try to stop an impending attack.

Getting to the lab was the absolute hardest part of their plan. Police and soldiers were canvassing the area, supposedly looking for rebels who could be involved with terrorist attacks.

“There is almost no way we’re getting in there without being spotted,” Duo groaned and ducked back down to hide in an alleyway. Soldiers were passing by and he hopped they hadn’t seen him. “We could always steal uniforms and pass off as soldiers.”

“We could do that,” Trowa replied. “We might _have_ to do that. Otherwise, we have to wait for them to start to clear the area and hope we can make it in before the device is activated.”

“That’s pretty risky. What if we don’t have time? We’ll be too late and everyone dies,” Duo said. It was almost disturbing how casually he spoke of the death of hundreds of thousands of people.

They were quiet for a few moments as they watched the patrols. If they were going to try to make a run for it, they would only have a few minutes to get to the lab and force their way into the building.

“We can make it in. I have a silencer; we can get the door open, but as soon as we get in, you’ll have to disable it. Think you can do it?” Trowa asked and shifted his weight, preparing to run at the next break in soldiers.

Duo followed suit and nodded, “yeah, sure, no problem.”

They tensed for about six seconds more before sprinting off to the side entrance of the lab. Trowa had his gun drawn and did not hesitate to shoot two shots into the door—one of the handle and one the other lock. Duo had to wiggle the handle a bit and force the door open, but they didn’t have a problem otherwise.

When they slipped inside and Duo turned to find the control panel that went with commercial security systems like the one for their building, he found it was already disabled.

“It’s been almost a full twenty four hours since Quatre’s message. You would think a security company would have shown up by now,” Trowa muttered and looked around. The lights were out, except for a few red backup lights. They could see in the hallways, though it was still rather dark even in the flood of red.

He started into the next hallway, peering around corners and clearing them as they went. Duo followed behind and would double check, just to make sure no one entered one Trowa passed by.

As they neared the heart of the building, shots were fired as Trowa looked down one of the hallways.

“Soldiers!” Trowa said and ducked down. They could hear the shooters started to creep up the hallway. “Two of them—fully armed and it looks like they’re wearing Kevlar.”

Duo nodded and sprint forward as fast as he could to cross the opening of the hallway. The soldiers fired as he did, and they managed to clip his shoulder. He let out a slur of curses as he slid against the hall and took a bit of low ground.

Trowa waited until Duo waved to show he was okay before he quickly popped back out to let off two shots. His first one missed, but his second one went right into the closest enemy’s neck. There was a brief pause in the firing that Duo took advantage of to shoot the remaining soldier through the eye.

It was a bloody affair, but they didn’t exactly have time to try to save their enemies when they knew how many lives were possibly at stake.

“How bad is your arm?” Trowa asked as he stood straight and slowly started to approach the two fallen men.

Duo touched the bleeding wound and then shrugged. “It could be worse. I just need to find something to bandage it with. Looks like mostly a scrape.”

They carefully stepped around the bodies, trying not to step in the pooling blood. The last thing they needed as a trail of footprints to lead others to them. It was hard to tell in the darkness, but Trowa was sure that neither of the CSO soldiers could have possibly survived their shots.

However, as Duo was about to step over, an arm shot out from the ground and grabbed his ankle. He barely managed to restrain himself from letting out a very high-pitched scream.

Trowa whirled around, gun drawn, to see Duo frantically trying to shake off the hand at his ankle. The man who had been shot in the neck was apparently still moving—though his motions were very jerky and imprecise.

The pilot watched in bewilderment as the soldier started to flip over and claw at Duo, using Duo’s legs to pull himself up. “Don’t just stand there! Shoot him!”

Drawn out of his awe, Trowa shot the soldier in the head two more times. It took the second bullet to get him to stop moving and finally slump to the ground.

“Zombies,” Duo said, his voice breathy, “freaking hate zombies.”

Trowa shook his head. “Not Zombies: Gen Two’s. This is exactly what happened when Zechs went to rescue you at the party. He shot the woman, but she was able to attack them again a short time later—and he was sure he had delivered a kill shot.”

Duo’s mouth was downturned into a deep frown, “zombies, Gen Two’s, I don’t care. What’s dead should stay dead.”

Though he didn’t respond, Trowa still agreed with his friend. Before they continued on, he leaned over and looked at the uniform tags. “Their names. Looks like they’re both French, if I were to take a guess. There were many troops stationed in France and I’m willing to bet they were the ones mobilized to come here. I can only imagine they would do that if they didn’t have any other Gen Two’s in the area.”

“Good point,” Duo replied, “maybe this hadn’t always been a planned attack location and CSO hurried to move people into position.”

“Probably because of Quatre.”

 

They eventually found the particular room Quatre had been using—but mostly because the door itself was littered with bullet holes. They could see movement from within, shadows coming across the door. There was a groan and cursing in Spanish.

The pilots looked at one another. Duo stood back and readied his weapon while Trowa kicked the door in, throwing it opened. There was a bit of resistance, which lead him to believe that perhaps someone had tried to relock it after the door had already been damaged.

Though they prepared to shoot, there was a voice from within. It took Duo a moment to recall his Spanish, but he knew the woman was shouting something along the lines of _‘don’t shoot, don’t shoot!’_

Inside, there were two people: a man dressed in a security outfit, and a woman in a lab coat. They hurried to get away from the door and raised their hands.

Trowa and Duo held their weapons still, though they were trained on the two individuals.

“Please, don’t shoot! We are captives!”

“Captives?” Trowa asked, having no problem switching languages.

“Yes! The soldiers—they grabbed us and locked us in here! They made us disable the security! Please, we are just employees, don’t shoot us!” The woman said once in Spanish, then again in heavily accented English. She carefully tapped her badge hanging from her breast pocket. The security guard as well turned his hip to show he was unarmed and that his own badge was hanging.

The pilots slowly lowered their weapons and stared at the pair ahead of them.

“They had you disable the security system? When, last night?” Trowa asked, thinking about their last communication with Quatre.

The man looked to the woman and the back. “I responded to a break in call. When I arrived, there was a vehicle leaving. I came in to clear the building, and they caught me. They had me shut down the system entirely…”

“Our… fail safes,” the woman quickly interjected, trying to find the right words. “If there is a chemical leak, the building seals itself to keep outside exposure—I came in for weekend work and they grabbed me. They used my clearance to manually cancel the failsafe. If there is some sort of leak… it will leave through our ventilation system.”

“Trowa, beneath the computer,” Duo said and nodded back behind the woman. There was a white unit, just a bit smaller than the unit they had found in Red Horse.

Without waiting for further explanation from the workers, Trowa holstered his weapon and hurried past them. They scurried out of his way and watched as he knelt down. “There’s a timer on this,” he said, “less than twenty minutes until detonation.”

“Oh my god, an explosive?!” The woman shouted, her hands going to her face in terror.

“Worse,” Duo replied and went to help Trowa. They both had enough tools on them to each disarm a device. So far, this was the only one they had seen. “A biological warfare agent.”

“The one that was on the news yesterday?! The one being released by the Seraphs?” It was the security guard this time who panicked.

Duo growled, “did you see who grabbed you? What were they wearing?”

“CSO uniforms.”

“Who do you think is _really_ releasing the agent?” When Trowa didn’t have enough room to remove the lid of the device, the two of them grabbed the desk and dragged it out of the way—it was lighter and safer than trying to move the armed filter.

The pair started sobbing behind the pilots, their words reverting to Spanish as they panicked. “Why, why would they do this?”

“Because Moira Adelphie is a psychotic bitch, that’s why,” Duo muttered as he and Trowa lifted the lid. It was a bit more difficult than the Red Horse filter—it was more compact with a slightly more in depth operating system, but in just under two minutes, they had it shut down and sighed a breath of relief.

“We need a way to transport these vials, separately and safely,” Trowa said as he started to pull the gold and blue colored vials out, one by one. “It’s disabled now. But it would be helpful if you could take us from room to room and help us find any more. It will only take one to do significant damage. We should also reinstate the failsafes.”

It took a few moments before the guard and the lab tech could calm down enough to nod. The guard was ready first, escorting Trowa out of the room and down the next closest corridor. The woman stayed behind for a bit longer.

“I can bandage your wound,” the woman said after a sniffle. Duo gave her a small smile, relieved that she had started to calm down.

“I can wait a little bit longer. We need to check the rest of the lab. But when we’re done, that would be mighty kind of you.”

She nodded and took her badge off so that she could use it to open the other doors. “Yes, I understand. Are you… Are you one of them? The Seraphs?”

Duo shrugged. “We didn’t give ourselves that name. We are just groups of people who want to stop the Adelphie’s. They put on a nice show for the public, but they’ve been doing really awful stuff to people for a long time. We’re worried for the rest of mankind.”

The woman nodded slowly. “Well… then maybe seraphs are just what we need.”

000

 


	19. Part II: Verse V

After Colony: Revelation

Part II: Verse V

000

 

“What’ve you got?” Heero asked, adjusting the monitor to get a better look at the couple he was speaking with. Zechs and Noin looked back at him, though they occasionally looked down at some folders in front of them.

_“Okay, so, it looks like Duo and Trowa were right. The CSO soldiers that jumped them at the lab were originally stationed at an embassy in Paris. Our contacts say that half of the entire team was sent from the embassy to the lab. If we piece this together, it would seem that they were the closest Gen Twos to Seville, so Moira sent them to retrieve Quatre and attempt to take out any rebels who came looking for him.”_ Noin was the one to speak, and Zechs just looked passively down at his papers. _“Our guess is that she set the warfare device where Quatre had been with an attempt to blame the rebels for their attack.”_

“I see… How are you recovering, Zechs?” Heero asked, finding the man’s lack of participation unlike him. When it came to military conferences, he usually had no problem inserting his professional advice.

” _I’m recovering fine. It takes more than a stray bullet to keep me down,”_ Zechs replied.

“ _Yeah. Some are saying he’d need a stake through the heart to finish him off,”_ Noin said with a laugh. She gave her partner a light punch in the shoulder. “ _Don’t mind him, Heero. He’s just being a five year old and giving me the cold shoulder. Apparently, now that we’re married, he thinks he gets to tell me what to do.”_

_“Noin,”_ Zechs growled in irritation, though his expression certainly did remind Heero somewhat of a pouting child.

“Married?” Heero asked, knowing full well that Noin only brought it up because she desperately wanted him to ask. He typically would have ignored just an obvious ploy, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that to the poor woman.

_”Yup! Did you know that Dorothy is ordained? I mean, I guess if anyone we know would decide to do something so off the wall, it would be her… Well, or Duo, but I don’t think he’s ever shown any interest in actually doing more than dressing like a priest.”_

“Congratulations.”

_“I will forgive your lack of excitement. I know even asking about it is effort from you… Anyhow, it looks like there is a CSO medical center about a half hour South East of Paris. I will send you the coordinates. They are accepting a lot of ‘big name’ patients there. They have extra security and basically a luxury recovery section. There is even a screening process to get into this place, can you believe it? We’re working on getting patient descriptions from some of the locals, but it’s been difficult. However, someone thinks they might have seen an unconscious man meeting Quatre’s descriptions.”_ When Noin looked back at Heero, she showed the doubt that Heero was feeling.

“Thinks they might?” He raised a brow and she shook her head, shoulders hanging.

_“I know, it’s a long shot. But if you do the math on how long it would take to get from Seville to this location, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that they flew him over. That being said… if you want to act on this lead, you’re going to want to do it soon. The longer you wait, the higher the risk that they’re going to do irreversible damage.”_

“Understood. See if you can get a list together of VIPs hitting the CSO medical centers. It might help us figure out their plans.”

_“Already on it. We’ll get what we can for you. Good luck.”_

The video conference ended and Heero immediately pulled out his phone to call up Trowa and Duo. They were the closest, though it would still take some time. It would be over a fifteen hour drive if they left from Seville.

When he hung up from his conversation with Trowa, he was satisfied to know that they were already en route to the French border. They were back tracking the CSO soldiers in case no further information turned up. Upon word from Heero, they confirmed that they would head straight for medical facility in their gundams.

He stood and exited the tent, scanning the area to find Carlino. Instead, he found Wufei supervising the start of camp breakdown. “We need to find Carlino. Trowa and Duo are heading towards a medical facility outside of Paris in their mobile suits. It’s probably going to get dirty. We need to meet up with him to help secure Quatre and an escape route.”

Wufei nodded and handed his clipboard over to one of the other soldiers. “I believe I saw him heading towards the suits just a few moments ago.”

“Is Red Horse fully operational without the ‘ _filtration unit_ ’?” Heero asked as the two briskly walked past the other rebel soldiers and towards the area with the covered mobile suits.

“Yes… However do you think it wise to take her into a CSO battle? This will be the first confrontation since Isabella’s departure. We can’t be sure what will happen.”

“Don’t let her out of your sight then.” Heero spotted Carlino and turned in his direction. Wufei stopped, a frown firmly in place and headed the opposite way, towards Red Horse.

000

When Quatre awoke, it took him a few moments to take in his surroundings.

The room was white—pristinely white. There was a light above him, blinding him and making it difficult to get a good look at anyone around him, and there were certainly people in the room. A few of them came and went, speaking to one another in French, if he were to guess based on the few words he could hear. Once his eyes adjusted, Quatre realized that the reason he couldn’t distinguish any faces was because they were all covered by surgical masks.

That was the moment that the panic set in.

His body jolted into action, trying to quickly stand and flee the medical room. His last memories were of being captured by CSO. He doubted that he had been rescued during his unconsciousness. Unfortunately, Quatre couldn’t escape. His wrists and ankles were shackled to the bedside, which was bolted into place. He couldn’t even try to topple the bed.

“Ah, Mr. Winner, you’re awake. Well, you certainly are a strong one, aren’t you!” One of the masked men turned and spoke up. Though his face was hidden, Quatre had the feeling that the man was smiling. “We certainly didn’t think the anesthetic would wear off so quickly. Not to worry. Another dose, and you’ll be back under. You won’t feel a thing.”

“I don’t believe I consented to any medical procedures,” the Gundam pilot said coolly and clenched his jaw. Apparently a few of the others in the room were leaving, now that he was awake.

“How could you? You’ve been unconscious since we found you,” the supposed doctor replied with a shrug. “But that’s alright. We don’t need your consent. You see, you’ve been infected. You only have a few hours left to live. By CSO’s decree, we are to do whatever is necessary to save our patients from the virus released by the terrorist group known as ‘ _the Seraphs’_ —even if the patient ‘is’ one of those terrorists.”

Quatre struggled against his bonds again, wishing he had more time. He was more than willing to break his own hand if it meant being able to slip off one of the shackles. “Oh really? Strange. Because I’ve analyzed the compound and I know what’s being released.”

“Hmm, do you?” The doctor seemed to be humoring him, which only aggravated Quatre more. He thrashed about, if only to make it more difficult for the doctor to use the syringe he slipped out of his pocket.

“Stay away from me!” Quatre’s voice verged on hysterical and his vision started to blur. He knew what was happening—it had happened before. However, usually his fits were brought on by the Zero system. Just as the pilot felt his control slipping and panic taking over, the syringe sank in to his arm.

He flailed for a few moments before his limbs became heavy and eventually felt like they were weighed down by cement.

“Now don’t worry. When you wake up, you won’t even remember this happened.” And with that, he left.

Quatre did not fall into immediate darkness. His breathing slowed and his pulse evened out. He was conscious, but he did not know how long he would have before he was completely under again. When another figure walked through the door, he had to blink a few times to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. “Isabella…”

The woman stood over his bedside, brushing a few strands from his face and pushing them back. “If you had suspicions about me on the Swift Trillion, you should have at least restrained me.” She said, her voice cold and distant.

“Won’t make that mistake… again,” he said, pulling his head from her touch. She dropped her arm and smiled.

That smile. It infuriated him. She had been with them for a few months, and she had given them that same damn smile. But only now did he see it for what it was—an act. It didn’t quite reach her eyes. Her bright blue, sparkling eyes had once helped make her seem to naïve but now, Quatre only saw the arrogance he should have seen earlier.

“You won’t have the opportunity.” Isabella turned and grabbed a round stool on wheels. She rolled it over and hopped up, leaning on the side of Quatre’s bed. “When this is over, you’ll probably live. The other pilots… they won’t be as lucky.”

“Why me?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” She said and shrugged, “you’re a well known, wealthy young man. You’re useful. Well, you’re useful as long as we can control you. Don’t worry, some of your friends might make it through this war. Relena, for example. I want nothing more than to see her grovel at my feet. I can’t stand her. It took every ounce of my control to stick around once we reached the Sanc. So annoying.”

 “We’ll never bow down to anyone—especially not you,” Quatre growled, trying his hardest to discreetly work out of his bonds.

Isabella laughed. It was her same light and airy laugh, but it sounded almost hollow. “That’s what Natalia Vitore said too, or something to that effect. It was only a matter of time before she needed to go in for a dental procedure. When she left, she had a headache and the strangest urge to follow CSO commands. We’ve already won, Quatre, don’t you see? It’s been a game of chess, all these years. While you’ve been busy trying to get through to the king, the queen’s been wiping out your board.”

Finally, he had to put his head back. The anesthetic was working its way through his body. He didn’t have much time left.

“What do you get from this? Why would you want to wipe out the majority of the human population?”

“Moira thinks humanity is a waste. She wants to create a new world, a utopia. There will be no more colonies. The chosen will live on Earth, as they were always supposed to,” Isabella said and spun around in her chair. Quatre tried to focus on her, but her image started to blur as she whirled around.

“What about you? Where do you fit in, in all of this?” His mouth was getting dry, and it was hard to speak. His eyes started to close.

“Me? I just want to live.”

000

“What if he isn’t here?” Duo asked through gritted teeth. He swung Deathscythe’s arm, bring his thermal weapon across the Seal he was fighting. They had been at it for over an hour, but the damned dolls just kept coming. They had to be ridiculously careful with their attacks to keep from blowing up too many of their enemies. After all, they were still fighting in civilian territory, and couldn’t risk any collateral damage.

“At the very least, we’ll shut down the medical facility,” Trowa replied, though he was still trying to hold out hope that Quatre was inside and safe, even if he didn’t voice his thoughts to Duo. “Who knows how many politicians and corporate kings they’re trying to lure in here. Maybe it will make people think twice about seeking help from CSO.”

“Yeah, but it just feeds into the image that we’re the bad guys! Why are we _always_ the bad guys?!” Duo pulled his scythe out and thrust into the air, trying to lure some of the dolls to an empty highway instead of a residential block.

Trowa didn’t respond. Their radar sensors started going off again, this time signaling the incoming support they were receiving. Wing Zero was leading the way with Altron and Red Horse in close pursuit. He would have been lying if he said he hadn’t hoped for some of the other _Seraphs_ to come in support, but he doubted that they would have been able to keep up anyhow, since they were flying in from almost three hours away.

Duo pulled up a group communication line. “About time the cavalry arrived,” Duo said in a huff, “we were starting to think you left us out here on our own! What, and no support? Geeze, you’re making this tough…”

“If you wanted easy, you’re in the wrong line of work,” Wufei snapped diving into the first swarm of dolls that neared him.

“Carlino is packing camp up. We stayed too long there. It wouldn’t be long before CSO triangulated our location based upon timelines. Trowa, Duo, you two should go in after Quatre. We will hold off the outside attacks and clear an exit for you,” Heero said, withdrawing his beam saber.

“How do we transport him after we have him?” Trowa asked and finished off with the Seals on his end. Most were heading for the group of three gundams, likely finding them to be the most immediate threat.

_“Bring him to me_ ,” Red Horse’s voice replied. Hearing Isabella’s robotic voice in their speakers once more caused the gundam pilots to clench their jaws. “ _I can easily carry an extra person. If he is not conscious, bring a blanket for extra padding.”_

“Is there a reason you think he’s unconscious?” Duo asked, perhaps a hit of venom in his voice. It was no secret that his already cold regard for Edan had become even icier since Isabella’s departure. He usually refused to work with her directly.

“ _No,_ ” Red Horse responded simply. “ _I am merely offering another scenario_.”

“She’s not wrong,” Trowa said and idled Heavyarms. He holstered his hand gun and opened his cock pit. “We don’t know what we will find. We should prepare for anything. I’m heading it.”

000

The medical facility was in chaos. People were screaming in running, terrified of the gundams attacking. As Duo predicted, the attack did nothing to help their image. They heard the word ‘ _Seraph_ ’ tossed around so frequently and in such disgust that Duo muttered something about getting Une and Relena on PR damage control.

“Here,” Trowa said and waived Duo into his direction. The braided man saw that there were two doctors, knocked unconscious and slumped in the closet. “Put one of these on. We’ll draw less attention while we look for Quatre.” He threw one of the white lab coats over his arms and grabbed spare surgical masks and paper-like caps from one of the shelves.

Duo followed suit, wisely choosing to keep his long hair tucked under his coat. Who ever heard of a doctor with eighteen inches of hair? They clipped their stolen badges to the front of their coats and walked off, moving quickly, to try to find their comrade.

They looked in every room, peeking their heads in and quickly shutting the doors again before anyone caught a look at them. To most, they looked like employees checking on their patients. It was only a matter of time before someone stopped them. A woman, wearing a very nice hospital gown and holding a toddler in her arms, shouted at Duo when he looked in.

“Doctor, doctor!” She said frantically, jumping up from her bed. “What’s happening? Have the terrorists come for us?” The boy in her arms had a head of curly hair and looked like he had cried himself to exhaustion.

Duo glanced down the hallway at Trowa, who was moving quickly, then backed to the woman. “No, no they haven’t. They aren’t terrorists. They aren’t trying to hurt civilians, just stopping CSO. You’ll be fine, don’t worry. Just… just stay inside and away from the windows, just in case. Really, you’re fine. Oh, and, uh, if you haven’t done any medical procedures yet… don’t do it. The vaccines have been contaminated.”

The words came out of his mouth before he could really stop himself. He shut the door quickly and kept moving, pulling down the surgical mask to get a quick breath or two. Well, it hadn’t necessarily been a lie. The vaccines weren’t vaccines, so….

He pushed the moral dilemma to the back of his head and turned the corner. Trowa was standing at the door to a room, his gun drawn.

“Step away from him,” Trowa said sternly, “one last time, I said step away from him. If you don’t think I will shoot, you are severely mistaken.”

Duo drew his own gun and ran forward, pointing into the room as well.

Three doctors were within, standing over Quatre’s bedside. Their friend was unconscious with a respirator over his face and an IV drip hooked up, among other things. Part of his head was blocked by an opaque plastic sheet. One of the doctors had his hands on a free standing device that seemed to operate on its own.

The men raised their hands, but the device continued to hum. They stepped back as they were directed.

“Whatever you’re doing, stop it,” Trowa said. The men looked at one another.

“The procedure has already begun,” replied one of the men, his words dripping with a heavy, eastern European accent. “You are too late.”

“I _said_ stop it,” the pilot said, forcefully accenting each word. The doctor who stood closest to the machine pressed three buttons, one after another, and the device stopped—though Trowa couldn’t see what it was doing in the first place from his angle. “Duo, grab the gurney to the right of me.”

Duo didn’t need to be told twice. He stepped around Trowa and wheeled the gurney inside, moving it next to Quatre’s body. “Get him disconnected and loaded up.”

“His body needs time to recover,” the same doctor spoke, “it could be disastrous to move him while he is in such a state.”

_“Now.”_ Trowa focused his gun at the man who had been speaking. The doctor quickly nodded and started to undo the restraints that kept Quatre down and remove the medical devices that were attached to his body. The three doctors carefully moved their patient onto the gurney.

Once Quatre was loaded up, Duo gave a quick glance at Trowa. When he received a nod, Duo turned and used his firearm to smack the two closest doctors in their heads, knocking them out cold. “Can’t have you reporting us, now can we,” the gundam pilot said, stalking towards the last doctor, who was begging to be left alone in his native tongue. Duo knocked him out anyhow.

Carefully, they started to wheel Quatre from the room. As they started to shut the door, Duo slipped back in a grabbed a clean white blanket from a seat in the corner of the room. As Edan had suggested, it would probably make Quatre’s ride to safety more comfortable. He left the room and secured the door, shooting the handle. The shot wasn’t too loud, compared to the rest of the chaos in the facility. At least now it would take anyone a while to notice that one of the patients was missing.

 

Trowa and Duo pulled up their masks and started to move the gurney towards the loading dock, walking slow and steady, as if they belonged.

They had made it just about the entire way before they were stopped. There were some CSO soldiers still in the building, though most paid them no mind since they were too busy dealing with the outside attack. Two of them stood by the loading bay doors, causally standing guard in case anyone thought to come in through the ‘back entrance.’

“Hey, what are you doing? There hasn’t been any alerts for patient transport,” one of the men shouted, nearing the pilots. “This patient isn’t even suitably prepped for movement! What the hell do you—”

Before he had a chance to create any more of scene, Trowa’s arm shot out and punched the soldier in the jaw. The man stumbled back in surprise and raised his weapon, as did the other. Trowa turned and raised his leg, kicking the soldier back a few more feet into his partner. Duo abandoned the gurney and dove on the first soldier, wrestling him to the ground and wrapping his arm around the man’s neck. It took a few moments of gasping, but the first soldier was unconscious.

Trowa grabbed the other soldier’s weapon, a semi automatic strapped over his shoulder. They fought over the weapon for a few moments, but Trowa’s ultimate goal was to get the strap from under his arm. He worked the man’s arm below the strap so it was over just the man’s neck, then he tightly wound it cutting off the soldier’s air supply.

“C’mon man, I thought we were trying not to kill them,” Duo said cautiously, standing up once more. Trowa looked over him, then back at the soldier, who had gone bug eyed. He lightened up on the pressure and waiting for the man to also fall unconscious, then released him.

Duo was right. They were trying to save as many lives as they could. Who knew how many were willing CSO participants, and how many were forced to serve. Trowa stepped to the side and reached out to hit the large red button that would open up the double doors to the loading dock ramp.

There was a gunshot, and a bullet just narrowly missed his hand.

Duo and Trowa whipped around, weapons drawn.

“Isabella,” Duo seethed through gritted teeth.

“Drop your weapons,” said the woman, her finger on the trigger, “or I swear I will shoot you both, so help me God.”

Duo’s lips curled upwards in a dark smile, “oh please, you’re a terrible shot.”

“Maybe I was faking it. I’m pretty good at that, you know.” Isabella squeezed her trigger just a little bit more.

“No, no, you weren’t faking that. I would have been able to tell if you were deliberately missing during our target practice. You are, legitimately, a horrible shot. You were probably aiming for Trowa and missed. I, on the other hand, won’t miss.” Duo let off a warning shot, which went whizzing by her ear. The shock was clear across her face. She couldn’t hide that.

In retaliation, she pulled the trigger two more times. She was standing decently far away however, and did, in fact, miss. Duo moved his arm just an inch and was fully prepared to blow the traitorous girl’s prized brains out.

“Duo,” Trowa said lowly, “what did you _just_ tell me.”

The braided pilot snarled in response while Trowa hit the button to open the doors.

“I wouldn’t waste a bullet on her. She’ll get what’s coming to her,” Trowa said and stepped forward, grabbing the edge of the gurney and pulling it towards him. Duo stood perfectly still, his violet eyes staring down the girl’s blue ones. After a few more moments, he started to back up, gun still trained on Isabella. Once he was outside, on the dock, his hand snapped out, pressing the outside button, closing the doors on her once again.

The two of them loaded Quatre into one of the ambulances, using a set of keys they had stolen off of its driver before they had even entered the building. Duo drove while Trowa sat in the back to watch over the unconscious pilot.

“I can’t believe you stopped me. She isn’t like the other soldiers, we know she’s working for them willingly,” Duo said, his voice loud in aggravation, though he wasn’t necessarily yelling at Trowa.

“Yeah, but we may end up needing her when this is all done,” Trowa replied, smoothing down Quatre’s hair and trying to get a look at what was done to him. There were a few flecks of blood in his pale blonde hair and a clean, precise incision. “Once this is all over, if we win, there may be a lot of damaged people left. We need to preserve our resources, even if we’d rather set them adrift in space.”

Duo fell silent. There were words on the tip of his tongue, but he chose to hold it instead. He focused on the road ahead of him, avoiding bits of rubble and some destroyed Seals. Trowa got onto his wireless communicator and gave Red Horse instructions to meet them and help them load up Quatre.

000

When the group left the scene, they used Isabella’s Empty Space program to keep them off of CSO’s radar’s. Wing Zero led the way, directing the group towards the boarder of Germany. Edan had confirmed that there were no known CSO bases near the Black Forest, which was the location of the next closest rebel base. Carlino was already in the process of divvying up his men amongst other locations, and shutting down the Portuguese camp site.

Red Horse took it easy, trying her hardest not to jostle around her extra passenger as she jetted through the air. Both Heavyarms and Altron hung back just a bit, to make sure that Red Horse didn’t face any problems—either from possible attacks, or gently landing.

Once she was safely docked, with her cockpit opened, the other gundam pilots used a raising platform to carefully move Quatre from Red Horse to the ground. Trowa led the way, sending out brief orders to the other rebels in the camp. Carlino wasn’t there yet with Sandrock, but at least he had warned the leaders of the camp to just go along with whatever the gundam pilots said.

It was just after sunset, but in the forest, it seemed to be so much later. The light barely came through the thick tree line, causing some of the camp residence to start turning on flood lights for a few more hours of work. As Trowa and Duo pushed and pulled the make shift gurney, Heero could be seen pulling out his phone just as they turned the corner.

“Do you know what they did to him?” Wufei asked, as Edan was left standing along at the foot of Red Horse. It was better for her to stay out of the way.

The young woman shrugged and shook her head, but brought her hand to her left temple, brushing it back into her hair. Wufei nodded.

The implants. She suspected they had tried to put in a neurochip. Who was to say how far that managed to get, and if they had succeeded in taking Quatre out of the rebellion?

“If they did something, can you reverse it?”

She shook her head quickly. That was far beyond her capability. She couldn’t even fix herself. At least, that’s what Wufei thought she was saying.

“They’ll call us if they need us. Come. We’ll patch up Nataku—she sustained more damage--then we’ll move onto Red Horse.” Wufei turned to walk back towards his own gundam, but the woman’s arm reached out and grabbed him. He no longer reacted defensively when she did that. He turned back around to see her patting down her pockets for scraps of paper and her pen. She found a piece and scribbled onto it before handing it over.

_Why do you call her ‘Nataku?’_

Wufei looked at the note and then carefully folded it up, placing it in his own pocket, his jaw tightening. “That… is a question for another day.” This time, when he turned and went towards the towering green gundam, Edan followed.

000

 

 

 


	20. Part II: Verse VI

After Colony: Revelation

Part II: Verse VI

000

 

Quatre was unconscious for almost a week. The camp had enough resources to set up a suitable medical bay for the pilot, who was doing alright besides not waking. When he finally awoke, he said he felt like death had taken his body for a joy ride.

“I think that the medical facilities CSO is setting up are specifically for this sort of procedure,” he said, sipping on his first glass of water since waking. He had hardly been able to keep anything he ingested down for another two days, meaning they had to continue a steady IV drip to keep him nourished. “They’re screening out people they want to keep alive and putting a chip in their heads. I’m guessing that they can command these priority individuals remotely—Isabella mentioned Natalia Vitore.”

“It’s as we suspected,” Trowa said with a nod from his seat. “Vitore had not willingly gone alone with CSO’s plans. She was being controlled so that she could get CSO access to the city, and lure the most people together at once for them to set off the biological warfare agent.”

“Yes,” Quatre replied gravely. “It is no virus. If you read my email, which I had sent just before I was captured, then you know that it is a nerve gas. Once it is inhaled by a human being, it will be absorbed into their bloodstream and eventually just shut off the brain. It does take a few hours to kick in, but it only affects humans. Animals and plant life will be unaffected. This is literally a ploy to wipe out humankind.”

“She is mentally unstable,” Wufei muttered and paced about the room a bit, shaking his head.

“Obviously,” Quatre replied. He brought his cup back to his mouth and carefully poured the water down the back of his throat. “Unfortunately, I cannot promise I will be reliable. We have no idea the extent of CSO’s procedure. I do not know if I have been compromised. Additionally, I am suffering from bouts of narcolepsy, just as Duo did when we initially pulled him from CSO.” He set his cup down in his lap and sighed, as if resigning himself to his fate.

“Woah, what’s that supposed to mean?” Duo asked, sitting up straight. He had been leaning back, balancing on the back to legs of his chair beforehand.

“It means… that you probably shouldn’t expose me to any important plans. It may be possible that CSO can tap into me. Anything I know, from here on out, could be susceptible to external sources. I will certainly continue to do all I can to help… but if there is something that is meant to be confidential, then I think it best to keep it from me, at least until we know that Moira cannot use me to her advantage.”

Quatre let his words sink in with the others. He gave Trowa a small smile, though the other pilot did not return it. His mask was near flawless, but Quatre saw through it. He knew his companion well enough to see to mix of emotions running through Trowa’s mind.

“What do you intend to do in the mean time?” Heero asked, standing nearby with his arms crossed.

“I think my best bet, at the moment, is to sit in front of a computer and try to track CSO movements. I shouldn’t be the only one, of course, but I can try to search out next attack zones.”

Heero gave a curt nod. “I agree. I think that would also be best.”

“While I’ve been confined to bed, I’ve had an interesting thought that I would like to run by you all,” Quatre said, working to sit up a little straighter. “We know that the CSO devices have operated under the cover of radiation filtration devices for their mobile suits. The reason it had never been questions is because they emit low levels of basically harmless radiation, enough to be detected with the right equipment, but not enough to actually harm someone. It made perfect sense for the device to be present in the suits.

“Now with that being said, if that radiation is detected in somewhere unusual, say, for example, a fair ground or a parking garage, I think we can safely say we know what’s causing it. There are sensors all across the world that can be used to detect that radiation—labs, research centers, even schools. If Moira hasn’t thought to block access to those systems, we shouldn’t have much problem tapping into them and pulling their data. We may be able to find targeted sites and stop the attacks before they happen.”

The pilots looked from one another, some with thoughtful expressions on their faces. “That’s… a really good idea,” Trowa said after a few moments. Quatre shrugged.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think. It’s been an idea that I’ve been forming since before I was captured. I didn’t have time to test out the theory at the lab, which is probably a good thing, now that I think about it. CSO might have caught on, if they had found out I was using the lab’s radiation sensors.” He looked around at all of the eyes on him, who clearly wanted to know if he had any other useful information. “Could I… please have another glass of water?”

Edan was the one to quickly turn from his bedside and leave the tent for his drink. Quatre was already feeling exhausted again, even though he had only woken about an hour earlier. It was going to be a long night.

There was a little bit of chatter in the medical tent, most of it coming from Duo, though Trowa interjected a few words, if only to make Quatre feel more comfortable.

“Noin and Zechs are married,” Heero said out of the blue, when the conversation started heading into the direction of frivolous talk. Both Quatre’s and Duo’s jaws dropped.

“Well… good for them,” the blonde pilot said with a tired smile, “I’m glad Zechs is well enough to make it official now. Quicker than I expected though…”

“Knowing Noin,” Wufei said with almost a smile, “she didn’t give him much of a choice.”

“Dorothy officiated,” Heero added. “Zechs is still recovering. The gunshot wound did its damage. He won’t likely be able to return to the front lines for a few months.”

Duo scowled and tightly crossed his arms across his chest, shaking his head. “Damn it, Dorothy! Stealing my thunder! That was supposed to be my thing! I was going to get around to getting ordained one of these days!”

“I think you’ve been saying that for the past four years,” Quatre chuckled and then sighed. His head started swaying as Edan entered with a water bottle and a fresh cup. She cracked it opened, poured it, and gave him the filled glass. “Thank you… I’m sorry, guys, but I don’t know how much more help I will be at the moment. My head is just killing me. It hurts to keep my eyes open.”

“We’ll leave you be,” Trowa said quickly before any of the others could say differently. “If you need anything, shout. Someone will hear you.”

Quatre nodded and let Edan adjust his pillow for him before he lay back down. “Thanks…”

000

Une was able to provide the most help in lining up radiation sensors and recording their data. Because of her former role as the Preventer’s Coordinator, she had contacts who knew and trusted her. They were able to create a simple network which needed very little communication, to keep the risk of exposure to a minimum. One by one, radiation sensors were configured with any spikes being sent to both Une and Heero, and their teams respectively. From there, they agreed to keep someone on constant watch so that if something was detected, they could contact any of the rebel camps and alert them to the danger.

One particularly interesting fact they found was that the colonies seemed to be safe from the biological warfare agent. The security systems in place would immediately kick on in the event that any sort of radiation was detected, outside of areas where small amounts were expected. Those areas, however, had failover procedures to contain any breaches. In effect, the colonies were the safest place to be—though the rebels expected that Moira probably had something different planned for the colonies.

“ _We’ve managed to get a hold on a few of the dispersal units,”_ Une said on her call with Heero and Trowa. “ _Our men have been able to achieve best time of about three minutes. I hope it will be enough. We haven’t found much on our sensors. According to the schematics Edan supplied us with, only the mobile dolls have the unit. The Seals are not equipped, though they do have significant explosives for self destruction. I suppose that’s not exactly surprising_.”

Their next week passed by, and it made the rebels restless. Their suits were plastered on every TV screen and computer monitor from the medical facility’s attack. Reporters made them out to be monsters trying to target the innocent. Besides the bad publicity, it seemed Moira was content to hold her tongue.

The only spikes they had found indicating the CSO warfare devices were present, were at CSO bases. Though they were certainly arriving or being built, they had not yet moved them to any new locations. It seemed far more likely that they were simply waiting for something.

Additionally, after Howard had managed to get a hold of a mostly intact Seal and mobile doll, he took them apart piece by piece. Though the rebels were able to track the movement of the devices when they were being placed in the cities, they couldn’t keep count of the ones that may have been in the mecha. Not all had fully equipped “filtration” devices—which was likely partially responsible for no cases of bizarre civilian deaths after a battle—but they could _potentially_ carry the compounds.

So, unless they could stop all of the Seal and mobile suits from ever nearing civilians, Moira still had a chance to disperse the agent without them having a chance to stop it. Though if she did, she would reveal her role in the scheme and the public would turn on her.

They suspected they were okay for now, but the rebels were certainly sure that things could become much worse, much faster than they would have liked.

000

It was a nice night, despite it being mid October in the Black Forest. Many of the soldiers were sitting on benches and make shift seats in front of a projector they rigged up. They watched an old, old movie. Wufei thought that they mentioned something about ‘the living dead,’ but he hadn’t seen the black and white film. He couldn’t be sure, and he didn’t feel like asking Duo, who was sitting in the front row, yelling at the screen about zombie bites.

Quatre had been sitting outside for a little while, taking a break from his endless research, but was not amused when the camp members chose to put on the movie. He found it insensitive, considering what they had found at the Isle of Man facility. He had been most concerned about Edan, thinking she would be upset by the movie, but instead, she sat in the far back atop of a picnic table. Quatre and Trowa took their opportunity to walk around the camp unbothered—it was the first time that Quatre had felt good enough to walk around on his own for a bit.

Heero, apparently, was forced to have a long conference call with Relena, who was upset that he hadn’t been including her in his plans. While it was supposed to be an enlightening, she did mostly scolding, and he occasionally offered up a few words while he scrolled through data below her online video conference window.

Wufei had done all of the meditating he could. The sun was going down, however, and the men in the camp started to get louder. Some of them were enjoying the movie, some of them enjoying their drink. “This film seems utterly ridiculous. An average person could easily fight off these creatures.” He hopped up onto the other end of the picnic table crossed his arms. “I’m not going to tell you again—you should have a jacket on. I swear, I think you do this on purpose, just for attention.”

Edan rolled her head over to look at Wufei, her brow slightly raised. He rolled his eyes at her. Finally, she decided to stop leaning back on her uncovered arms and reached down next to her. From the side of the bench she pulled a canvas jacket.

“See? Attention. You’re ridiculous.”

The woman put the jacket on and pulled a pen from her breast pocket. As usual, her notebook was sitting next to her, though it was hard to see what she wrote, when she scribbled something and handed it over to Wufei. He had to turn it toward the light coming from the projector screen.

_I think I’ve seen this movie before. When I was a kid._

Wufei turned quickly, masking his surprise. This was the first time the woman had ever given any indication of having memories beyond about five years earlier. “Oh?” He handed the notebook back so that she could continue.

_I don’t remember the plot, or the actors. I don’t remember actually watching it. It just seems… nostalgic. It’s an odd feeling. I don’t like it._

“There’s nothing wrong with remembering,” Wufei offered, looking at the screen and momentarily wondering why he was even speaking. It wasn’t like him to have a conversation with someone beyond the necessary professional ones.

_It’s an itch. I can’t make it go away. I want to know, but it makes my head hurt. Halloween is soon._

Wufei frowned. Maybe she shouldn’t remember the past. From what Isabella had told them, for whatever it was worth, Edan wouldn’t have happy memories. Besides, who knew what sort of damage she could cause to herself if she… overloaded the neurochips, or something? “Yes, Halloween is soon, for those who celebrate it. I don’t. I think it’s ridiculous.”

_You think a lot of stuff is ridiculous._

“That’s because a lot of stuff _is_ ridiculous,” he growled and leaned back. It always amazed him how bad acting used to be in the old films. Everything was so over dramatic and hardly believable at all.

_I think I used to like Halloween._

“That’s fine. You can like whatever you want to like.” His words came out as almost a bark. Edan looked at him for a moment and then set her notebook down and returned to watching the movie.

It wasn’t until she got up and walked away shortly after, leaving her notebook behind, that he realized she had been trying to have a legitimate conversation with him. Well, he never claimed to be good with women. He stared at the screen for almost ten minutes, without actually watching a single scene. Finally, his curiosity got the better of him, and he flipped through the notebook pages to see what she had written.

He could basically identify who she was speaking with, based upon the context of most of the sentences. Most of them he remembered, because they were with him. In fact, almost all of them were his. Occasionally, he thought he saw something that may have been cued by Trowa or Quatre, but hardly anything from Heero, and certainly nothing from Duo. Wufei was the only one she actually ‘talked’ with.

Wufei closed the notebook and threw it back down, in case she came back for it. He decided he would give meditation one last shot for the evening—this time with Nataku.

000

Their brief moment of reprieve lasted for a total of fifteen and a half days before they received an alarm signaling the movement of one of the CSO devices. This time, it was nearby—Stuttgart. To make matters worse, the device was being unloaded into a large mall in the center of civilization.

“Get the power grid shut down,” Quatre called out immediately, rallying the technicians they had on hand. “It should be pretty easy if they aren’t expecting it—we can get it shut down and keep it down. That should get people off the streets and hopefully into homes.”

Trying to fight off CSO was certainly harder when they had to worry about stepping on civilians who may be running about the streets. Additionally, since it was a city, many of the people actually lived in nearby suburbs. If the city went dark, it may encourage people to get out of the city. It would almost work as an unplanned evacuation.

While Quatre remained behind, the other four pilots and Edan hurried to their suits. If they wanted to lay low, driving would have been the other route. However, they doubted they would have time. Instead, they used the Empty Space to hide their base location. They already knew that suits were surrounding the city so they needed to plan on fighting, and they could get their fast.

In just over a half hour, they were engaged in combat.

“First two to be able to ditch the CSO military should go for the device, whoever is left will hold off the Seals for as long as possible. Carlino’s men are trying their best to hold off the reinforcements, but they can’t get all of them,” Duo said through gritted teeth, pushing one of the enemies from his gundam with Deathscythe’s shoulder.

There would be more destruction with this battle, but they wouldn’t have to worry as much about casualties. Still, Duo made an effort to stop the Seal from crashing into the closest clusters of buildings. Trowa was on the outskirts of the town, the furthest away from the other gundams and rebels. He aimed at the incoming Seals, choosing to let his bullet spray land out in the nearby woods.

Wing Zero seemed to be the center of the attack

Edan and Wufei were the first ones to clear their surroundings enough to leave their gundams and make a run for the empty mall, gas masks strapped to their sides. It was large and upscale—if they hadn’t cut the power grid, it probably would have been packed with people. Edan shot at the door as they ran up, and once the lock was completely blown off, Wufei kicked it open.

They hardly paused to get into the building, which was good because more than a few soldiers would be hot on their trail within moments. Once they realized that Red Horse and Alton had stopped moving and wouldn’t be continuing, they would know that the rebel pilots had gone for the device.

Security lights were flashing, though there weren’t many since the backup generator was likely starting to die after running for so long.

“Security room is on this floor, towards the center,” Wufei said as they ran, though they had both looked at the layout before they left their gundams. He led the way and she trailed just behind him. It was eerie, running through the empty building with the only sound being their boots as they moved. It was eerie to consider that if CSO had their way, innocent people would have been lining the hallways, dead.

The room was locked, of course, but that hardly stopped Wufei, who stepped back and kicked it open. Neither wanted to use their firearm until they saw what was on the other side of the door. Once it was opened, all they saw was a normal security room illuminated by the glow of nine monitors. Well that, and the sleek white CSO device sitting in the corner, next to the air vent, with a convenient timer placed on top.

One minute and forty seven seconds left, and counting.

They may have been able to evacuate most of the town, but Wufei knew that there was still a great deal of people boarded up in their houses, avoiding the mobile suit battle going on right outside. The dispersal unit in front of him contained enough that it would be sucked up through the vents to the outside, and then it would sink to the ground and hang there until a strong enough wind came by. Even once it did, the nerve agent had a huge range of coverage and would catch anyone within at least the next five blocks.

That included the rebel forces currently working to clear the streets of masked CSO soldiers.

“We can’t make it,” Wufei snapped, slamming his fist onto the desk with such force that he toppled a mug filled with cold coffee. “After all of this, we can’t make it.”

Edan knelt down and ran her hands along the metal.

“What’s the point,” he growled and bowed his head. He was furious. If only they had been a little bit faster. If they had just another two minutes, they would have been okay. He could have disabled the device in enough time. He looked up to tapping.

The woman was trying to catch his attention. She held her connection cord in her hand and was uncapping the two ends. She plugged one end into the device and sat against the wall, raising the other to her head.

“Could it work?” He asked and stepped forward. She shrugged and looked down at the timer. They didn’t have much choice. He frowned but nodded anyhow. “I will protect you while you’re connected.”

Wufei watched the woman with unease as she prepared to plug into the sleek metal box. Her jaw clenched and she stared back at him, and he understood that she was saying ‘farewell,’ in case she did not see him again. 

In case she failed.

He ignored the buzzing of his communicator for just a moment longer and nodded, though he found his voice refused to respond. She inserted the sharply pointed end of her connection cable into the implant, sending a jolt through her body before her muscles stiffened.  


000

Edan hardly ventured into the world of the CSO cyber system. She usually left that for Isabella. However, with mere minutes before the biological warfare device’s ‘explosion,’ she felt she had no choice but to try to disarm the device internally.

It took her a bit to get her bearings—she was thrown off by the fact that her mind believed her to be standing in Isabella’s tower, back at the manor in Italy. While it did appear to be her ‘friend’s’ room, a closer inspection showed that the things were set up for Moira. There was no brightly color coded organization system, no knickknacks displaying Isabella’s interests. The actual tower had once been simply filled with the blonde woman: she had posters from her favorite bands and movies, copies of books she had read over and over again, even a bundle of neon shoe laces she used to replace her dull sneaker laces. 

Here, it was cold. The desk tops and key boards were black, there were framed papers on the walls, but most of them were certificates of recognition. Upon closer inspection, Edan saw that they had Moira’s name. 

Well, sort of. 

Everything, down to her own skin, was made up of a small series of numbers, constantly moving. None of it was real. It was all in her mind—or at least, in the neurochips implanted in her head. 

Edan sat down at the computer, pressing the space bar on the keyboard. The monitors woke up from their apparent ‘sleep’ state, only to show a countdown that likely matched the one that Wufei saw at that very moment. She rubbed her eyes and set to work, even though she had no idea where to even begin.

Immediately, she found that there was nothing she could do. There was no way to clear the timer from the screen. No matter what she did, it continued to run. Slamming her hands down, she decided to press the power button. Nothing happened. She pulled the power cord, but the moment she looked to see if the screen shut off, it only materialized back into the outlet. 

She jumped up in frustration. She didn’t have much time.

She looked behind the monitor and found a small drive plugged into the back. Edan reached back and pulled it.

The tower image around her darkened, and she was soon left standing in what seemed to be… nothing. The driver was still in her hand. 

“DeBordaris should have killed you when he had the chance,” Moira’s voice said, echoing through the apparent empty space. Edan whipped around, but saw no one. “You’ve always been more trouble than you’re worth.”

An image of the older Adelphie woman seemed to materialize in the darkness and walk towards Edan, one hand on her hip. 

 _“I would say ‘hand over the drive and you won’t be hurt.’ However, that would be a lie. I look forward to hurting you quite a bit._ ” The woman hardly looked like her usual, business-suited self. It looked like she wore a black spandex outfit with white lines at a few of the seams. 

Something akin to a nightstick appeared in Moira’s hand, finally indicating to Edan that she should run—run somewhere, anywhere but there. However, even though she turned and sprinted forward, Moira was in front of her moments later. 

 _“You can’t run. Where would you go? This is my world. I can create anything I want in here. And most importantly, I can make you feel pain.”_ Moira was upon the shorter woman in an instant, smacking her across the face in full force.

Edan stumbled back, completely unprepared to feel a real blow in a virtual world. More so, she wasn’t expecting to feel pain. Her jaw felt like it was on fire. For the first time in years, she knew what it was to feel something, even if it was pain.

“ _Such a fool,”_ Moira spat, walking forward, bringing her weapon down on Edan’s shoulder, _“to think you could come in here and stop me… What did you expect? Did you think it would be that easy? Did you think you could be a hero? That everyone would love you for stopping the sinister CSO? How pathetic.”_

Edan hunched over, trying to protect herself as she was repeatedly beat down, blood pouring from her lip and bruises quickly forming. It was hard to concentrate through the pain. It was such a foreign concept. Finally, her own anger seemed to catch up, and a long black pole formed in her hand. 

Why was it that a Bo Staff materialized in her hand, of all things, Edan had no idea. But she brought it up and met Moira’s weapon in mid air before it could hit her again. The Adelphie woman snarled and lashed out, but Edan had little trouble disarming her. Between the two of them, only one was a fully trained fighter. 

 _“How dare you think to manipulate my world! I will slaughter you!”_ Moira snapped and lunged forward. With one clean spin, Moira was on the ground and Edan stood above her. For a few moments, the older woman glared up the length of the staff—and then she grinned maliciously. _“Feel free to kill me, if you want. It won’t matter. This is just a digital copy of myself. All you’ll do is kick me out of the system, temporarily.”_

Edan did not hesitate to put pressure on the staff, digging it into Moira’s neck. “ _But, if you do not give me back that driver, I swear, not only will I come for you, I will come for those pilot friends of yours too.”_

Moira’s words caused Edan to freeze, and she used the opportunity to move the staff from her throat.

 _“I swear I will. I will kill each and every one of them, in awful ways. But you know who I’ll come for first? What’s his name… Wufei?”_ Moria slowly stood, her grin still dancing on her lips. _“Oh yes, Isabella says you’re quite… taken… with him. Does he know? Hm? Does he know that somewhere in your CSO-owned-heart you have ‘feelings’ for him?”_ The woman circled Edan, laughing—no, near ‘cackling.’

_“My father wanted that part removed, you know. The part that lets you feel emotion and attachment. When I designed the neurochips, I chose to leave it in. To let you feel just barely human, but never to be able to act upon it. I find it very satisfying, knowing that toys like you care for something you can never have. Now, just hand over the driver, and maybe I will consider—”_

Edan spun around and brought her Bo Staff flying against Moira’s neck. There was a sickening _crack_ , and the woman’s body disappeared as it started to fall towards the ground.

She stood still for a few moments, her own weapon disappearing from her hands after she had no more reason for it. 

Her hands clenched together into tight fists, squeezing down on the small driver that likely signified the destruction codes for the biological warfare devices. Edan’s body trembled, and she let out a silent scream, crushing the driver and letting it fall away into a series of numbers. Soon, the black world started to turn red, beginning with area right around her body.

Once it seemed to overtake everything else, objects started for form. By the time she realized what was happening, Edan was standing in what appeared to be the gazebo back at Quatre’s manor. 

Moira no longer had control of this particular slice of the CSO system. This was Edan’s, and the access codes to the CSO system were embedded into the wood of the red gazebo.

000

 


	21. Part II: Verse VII

After Colony: Revelation

Part II: VII

000

 

Wufei knelt down and checked Edan for a pulse. It was there, but it was weak. Her breathing, too, was barely noticeable. It was just as it had been when Wufei pulled her out from Red Horse so many months ago.

He brought his hand to his face and squeezed the bridge of his nose. Isabella had been needed each time this had happened to Edan. It briefly crossed his mind that Edan may not awaken.

Wufei wiped his hand down his cheek and stood, turning to pick up his communicator. He cleared his throat and clicked onto their secured line. “The device has been disabled.”

The blinking countdown had stopped with hardly seconds so spare. She had cut it close, but Edan had done it—she had stopped the device from going off. If he had more time… well, if he had more time he would have made sure it was fully disabled by taking the vials from within. But he doubted he would have the chance.

_“Yeah, I’ll say!”_ Duo replied first, excitement filling his voice. “ _The Seals—they’ve stopped moving. I think they’ve shut down! Whatever you guys did, it did more than we could have hoped!”_

Indeed, Wufei could hear that the explosions were becoming fewer and fewer. However, the attack had only ceased with the mechas.

“Do you have an exit cleared,” Wufei said over his radio, watching the security cameras. CSO soldiers were rushing in from all of the entrances, as well as the roof.  Surely they knew right where to find the now disabled device. He didn’t have much time.

_“An exit? Pfft, we’ll have everything cleared out in five minutes.”_

“Do you have an exit cleared _here_?” Wufei asked again, trying to suppress the growl that leaked into his words.

Trowa finally answered Wufei, possibly already sensing that something was amiss.  “ _Carlino has a transport set up down in the subway system. He and his men are guiding the civilians as far away from the danger zone as possible. If you can get down to the parking garage, there will be a squadron to pick you and Edan up_.”

“Let Carlino know that someone will have to retrieve Edan from the lowest elevator.” He set the communicator down and pulled up a layout of the shopping center on the security system, checking for the closest elevator leading to the lower parking garage. He would be surprised if he even had ten minutes.

_“Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?”_ Duo’s voice responded over the radio, but Wufei didn’t answer.

_“Understood. What elevator shaft?”_

Wufei picked up the communicator once more, “E. She’ll be at E within five minutes. Trowa, get Nataku moved as soon as you can.”

He let Duo continue to shout at him, but he didn’t respond. Just to make things more difficult for the approaching CSO soldiers, Wufei cut the backup lights. He knew where he was going, and he wouldn’t be needing the lights in the empty halls.

Wufei returned to Edan’s side and carefully disconnected her from the now useless CSO device. He put the connecting cord into her pocket, after finding the plastic caps to cover the dangerously pointed edges. It took him a moment, but he did manage to get her secured on his back. She hung limply, so he had to hunch to keep her from sliding off.

As he started from the security room, he saw that there was a set of keys still sitting on one of the guard’s desks. The final bits of his plan fell into place as he swiped the key ring and briskly walked out into the dark hallway.

Wufei moved as quickly as he could with the unconscious woman on his back. He could hear the sound of soldiers some distance behind him, looking for him. They would probably go straight for the now locked security room. His guess is that a small group would hang back to get it open to check on the device while the others continued on to search the area.

He had maybe a three minute lead on them. Wufei stopped at the elevator he had mentioned and repeatedly pushed the down button, even though he knew it wouldn’t make it come faster. He glanced at the floor numbers and saw it was just leaving the lower garage floor. “Damnit!”

Two minutes. He would have two minutes.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened just as he heard the shouts start rounding the closest hallway to him.

“There he is!” One of the CSO soldiers shouted.

Wufei barely had enough time to more or less toss Edan inside and press the “G2” button before he ran back out and jumped up, grabbing the edge of the security gate and slamming it down, locking it in place.

He looked at the group and guessed that about twenty had come for him and Edan, and he couldn’t possibly let them get what they came for. At least, he couldn’t let them get _her._

After the elevator doors had closed—just as the soldiers reached the metal bars—Wufei watched for the elevator to go down the four floors to the lower levels. He used the stolen keys one more time to turn the elevator into maintenance mode, and keep it from returning. He only had enough time to pull the key off its ring and drop it down a vent before the soldiers managed to break down the security door.

Unfortunately, Wufei had locked himself in a dead end. He could have tried to take the elevator down with Edan, but he knew they would have been short by just seconds. All it would have taken was one soldier shoving the barrel of one of their semi-automatics between the closing doors, and they would have been done for.

Wufei raised his arms in surrender and braced himself. He was sure they would kill him after all of the trouble he and the others had put them through.

The mass of twenty all had their guns raised with their fingers on the triggers, but they did not move.

“Roger that,” the leader of the CSO soldiers said, before stepping forward. Wufei furrowed his brows and scowled, ready to speak, but he did not have the chance. The soldier reached into one of his front, jacket pockets and withdrew a syringe. Wufei was about to resist when two move soldiers practically flew up next to him with their own syringes.

In a wind of motion, two of the soldiers were thrown to the ground, but one of the needles still hit their mark. Wufei was almost instantly down, to his own surprise. There were stronger than he could have anticipated. As his consciousness slipped away, he thought one thing—those syringes were meant for Edan.

000

True to the plan, a small group of Carlino’s men went running through the parking garage to reach the E elevator. It sat with its doors open since it was in maintenance mode. If the soldiers were off put by the site of Edan, laying like a corpse with her eyes staring at the ceiling of the elevator, they didn’t show it. Instead, they cleared the area and ran forward.

Once one of the men had her over his back, they jogged out and met up with a jeep waiting to take them to the subway station using as an evacuation point. Because the mobile suits and the mobile dolls had stopped attacking, the rebels had a rather clear path to their destination.

In the end, it would take them almost half a day before the rebels would be able to return to their camp with Edan—another two days before they could arrange for the transport of Altron and Red Horse.

“Still no sign of Wufei?” Quatre asked when the group returned to base.

Trowa shook his head as he walked by, carrying Edan to her bunk. There was no point putting her in the medical bay when there was nothing physically wrong with her. Unless she awoke on her own, there was nothing they could do.

“I see,” Quatre muttered and wrung his hands a bit. “The security cameras at the mall don’t show much. We can’t see any of the recorded footage since it was running on backup generators at the time. It does seem as that perhaps CSO had to force their way through a gate at one point. As far as I can tell there are no signs of blood…”

Now was not the time for that conversation. The injured were just coming in and they would have plenty to do before they could even settle in to start making a new plan. Quatre could only hope, at this point, that Wufei had either escaped or was taken alive, in the worse case.

“Any news other news regarding CSO?” Heero asked as he approached, looking to head straight for their strategy tent.

“Nothing besides what you already know. It seems that all of their mecha has been disabled. I can’t imagine how it happened, but video feeds show soldiers fleeing. They don’t want to be caught in their suits. It seems that some areas—particularly in the South American and East Asian regions—civilians have started to rise up, now that they know the suits can’t attack them. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had groups of CSO soldiers rounded up and held hostage by morning.” Quatre had done his best to monitor footage from across the world while he was confined to camp. It had been somewhat…exhilarating… seeing the dolls and suits freeze up.

Unfortunately, there had been some inevitable collateral damage from those that had been in the air at the time of shut down.

“This would be a good time to have Relena release a statement warning everyone of the medical facilities. If their systems are shut down across the board, it may help us distribute without interruption,” Quatre said and walked into the tent behind Heero. Carlino was already inside, updating CSO troop locations.

“That’s a good idea,” Heero replied, “can you handle that?”

The other gundam pilot nodded and immediately left the tent again. He avoided going in as much as possible—he didn’t want the risk of being exposed to any plans that he could later expose to the enemy.

The next two days would pass in a blur. There were no announcements from Moira—no excuses for the CSO equipment left abandoned in cities. With no soldiers blocking Rio de Janeiro, brave souls entered with gas masks to find the bodies that had not yet been disposed.

And then they filmed them.

CSO may have removed their equipment, but people were inclined to believe Relena when she broadcasted, telling the world what _really_ happened. Experts were quickly able to validate her story when they saw the bodies and ordered tests. The backlash was instant. Chaos broke down as the fleeing CSO soldiers were captured.

In some parts of the world, it was an immediate bloodbath. Angry masses were more inclined to shoot first and worry about the consequences later. In others, however, the soldiers were secluded and kept from any contact with one another. Relena had tried her best to make it clear that not everyone was a willing participant—that some people were forced into the enemy forces.

Edan awoke on her own shortly after Red Horse was brought back to camp. One of the young rebels who was put on watch practically lost his mind when she tumbled off of Wufei’s bunk (hers was too high for them to easily check up on her.) Her waking hadn’t been slow and easy like in the past. Instead, she jolted to life and flailed about, trying to regain control over her movements. The boy went into try to help her, but left with a bloody nose. Two more soldiers entered to try to restrain her and keep her from hurting herself.

Whenever Quatre finally reached her, she was starting to calm down—well, besides her frantic pointing to Wufei’s bed and waving. It took him a moment, but Quatre finally realized she was asking for the other pilot.

“We… we don’t know where he is. He told us to get you from the elevator, and that was it. We think the CSO soldiers were too close and he delayed them until you were safe,” Quatre tried to explain. He kept his voice even and calm, not wanting to alarm the woman.

It didn’t work.

She jumped up and threw one of the men trying to hold her still with impossible ease. Quatre barely managed to avoid the man as he was thrown into the wall of the tent. The other soldier panicked and tried to get his arm around her neck, hoping to knock her out again. She hunched over, kicked her leg back into his calf, and grabbed the back of his jacket from over her (and his shoulder.) She moved so fast, and in such a swift movement, that he was flipped over in a moment and she was going for the door.

Heero and Trowa caught her just as she stepped out and quickly wrapped themselves around her torso, locking her arms against her, and her legs. She struggled but couldn’t slip from their strength.

“Edan, calm down,” Trowa said evenly, “we’re working on tracking him down. If you do disappearing, you won’t be much help. We need to work together. You’re the only one who knows what went on inside the mall—you need to help us put the pieces together.”

Once she stilled, he loosened his grasp and released her from the tight bear hug he had been holding her in. Heero also backed away from her, though he was fully prepared to spring back into action if she started to run.

She turned to face Trowa, her head bowed, and nodded.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and lead her away from the bunk tent towards the strategy area.

Heero watched the pair for a moment before trailing after them. Though Edan responded well to Wufei, and _well enough_ to Heero, Trowa was consistently able to communicate with her—even in silence.

Heero attributed it to Trowa’s years of work dealing with caged beasts.

000

Once the group, and Carlino, had gathered in the tent, Quatre handed over the wireless keyboard for Edan to start typing.

_“We reached the security room without a problem but there wasn’t enough time to dismantle the CSO device. With no other option, I connected to the operating system and shut it down from there.”_

“How did you know that would work?” Carlino asked, hardly trying to restrain the condescending tone from his voice. He had no problem making it abundantly clear that he put up with the gundam pilots out of respect, but that respect did not extend to Edan.

_“I didn’t. But we had a minute and a half to do something.”_

“It obviously worked,” Quatre interjected before Carlino could open his mouth again. “Whatever you did stopped not just the device, but all of the CSO troops. Do you know if it’s a permanent fix?”

The eyes stared at her and she stared back before looking away and shrugging.

_“I don’t know. I don’t know what I did. I plugged in, stopped the countdown, and woke up here.”_

Carlino let out a frustrated exhale and turned away, shaking his head. He clearly expected something else. Quatre flicked his eyes over at the soldier in annoyance before looking back at Edan.

“That’s okay. We know that infiltrating systems isn’t your area. We’re just glad you woke up on your own. We will continue our push to rally support against CSO and start sending our own men out to aid in subduing other soldiers. We will need to keep a roster and figure out a way to go find those who voluntarily helped CSO and those who were coerced.”

_“What about Wufei?”_

Quatre gave the woman a reassuring smile, “don’t worry, we’ll find him. He’s strong—he’ll be okay.” Or at least, he hoped the other pilot was okay. He didn’t yet have the familiar pit in his stomach indicating the worst had happened, so Quatre simply had to believe his words were true.

000

When Wufei awoke, he wasn’t actually if he _was_ awake. His eyes couldn’t focus on anything, and he could hardly move. The one thing that he was sure of was the fact that he was sore—so sore. The main area of soreness came from his neck, where the syringes had pierced him. The entire area ached and he could hardly twist his head.

There was someone else in the room—he could hear breathing and sighing, as well as the clicking of shoes, or well, heels really.

“Tell me where she is,” Moira said coolly, unbuttoning her suit jacket. The motion sensored lights turned on as soon as she stepped another foot into the room.  Wufei said nothing as she slipped it off, setting it over a chair.

The room was dark and cold. The only light came from the spot light some distance above Wufei’s head, hanging from the steel rafters. He didn’t know where he was, but he didn’t believe he was in an actual military base. If he were, he would have been in a holding cell or an interrogation room. Based on the oil stains he saw around him (or what he hoped were oil stains, at least,) he was more likely in a garage or a mobile suit hangar.

“If I wasn’t locked out of my own system, I would put you under the knife. I would put a chip in you while you were our prisoner. I would get the information I needed, then I would release you back to your friends. You would complete the job pilot 02 was to carry out—I wouldn’t have to worry about the rebel pilots anymore.” Moira slid off her suede pumps and kicked the heels beneath the chair. “What do you think about that, hm?”

Thin, sturdy chains kept Wufei restrained to just a few feet. The most he could do was move onto his knees from his kneeling position, but he could not stand. His neck ached liked all hell from the syringe and he anticipated it would become even worse as the drugs wore off. “You’re rather egotistical,” he replied with a grimace, “you used _‘I’_ seven times in about four sentences.”

He barely had time to react to the leg that came swinging at him—but his reaction was nothing more than trying to raise his restricted arms. Wufei fell to one side, cracking his head against the textured metal floor. His vision blurred, and he squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them again, he tried to shake the blurriness away, to no avail. Yes, he certainly still had a sedative in his system.

“Well aren’t you funny,” Moira said, circling the gundam pilot. He forced himself back onto his knees, focusing in on her. Her grin showed off her pearly white teeth. She looked like a cat ready to pounce, and Wufei was the prey. “Isabella never said anything about your sense of humor.”

Wufei grimaced at the mention of the name, and didn’t bother to hide it. “ _Isabella,_ ” he practically spat, “ _Isabella_ knows nothing about me.”

Moira crouched down in front of him, just out of his reach, and leaned forward “She knows enough. She says you’re rather fond of our little pet. I wonder, have you really developed a bit of a connection with her? Or maybe… maybe you’ve just figured out how to _use_ her. She has certain triggers you know, she can be made to be entirely helpless. Would you like to know what they are? You strike me as the type of man who likes his women completely submissive—”

Wufei lurched forward, struggling against his bonds, just inches from the woman’s nose.  Moira stood up and laughed a cruel, cold laugh. She kicked her leg up once more, catching Wufei right under his chin.

Moira was far from a trained fighter, and though she had no problem kicking him about, he could barely feel it. That was hardly reassuring, however, since his body was so numb.

“So, I suppose you won’t make this easy on yourself and just tell us where she is, will you?”

Wufei probably would have considered spitting in his captor’s face if it hadn’t been against his warriors code, and the fact that his mouth was completely dry. Instead, he settled for clenching his aching jaw and glaring straight into Moira’s eyes.

“Not to worry, I like this way better anyhow. After we send her the footage of what we do to you, she’ll surely come to us. Isabella seems to think Edan’s rather fond of you too.” Moira walked back to the chair with her jacket on it and sat down, crossing her legs, and then called out into the darkness somewhere behind Wufei. “He’s all yours, Vince.”

000

_Author’s Notes: I know, this one was a bit shorter, but I decided to break this and the next chapter up a bit more._

 


	22. Part II: Verse VIII

After Colony: Revelation

Part II: Verse VIII

000

 

It was in the early hours of the morning when the message came across to Trowa. He had been sitting up, reviewing the data on the now comatose CSO sleeper soldiers littering the globe. The last thing he had expected was to hear an alert come through from the account that typically only received messages from Quatre.

_A Gift for Edan_.

The sender field useless since it read “no reply,” but a quick virus scan showed that the message was not dangerous. Trowa glanced over his shoulder and quickly contemplated retrieving the woman. However, he let the thought pass. She had been on edge, and even had a few outbursts since Wufei’s disappearance. Until he knew what the message contained, Trowa did not want to risk another fit.

Trowa opened the message and immediately noticed that there was a video attachment. While he scanned the attachment, he read over the text included.

_He will remain alive for the next twenty four hours. If you would like more than just his corpse in a body bag, send Edan alone._

_Enjoy the show._

Trowa turned down the volume before clicking play. He didn’t know exactly what was on the video, but he didn’t want to draw attention to any passersby, just in case.

It was no interrogation, of that, he was sure. Trowa watched as Vince DeBordaris repeatedly kicked and punched a bound Wufei into the ground. Of course, Wufei was too stubborn to simply stay down so he was slammed into the metal ground again and again. When DeBordaris seemed to get bored, he left the sight of the security camera and returned with a syringe.

Though Wufei struggled to avoid the injection, his captor still pierced him.

DeBordaris waited for a few moments, Trowa assumed he waited for the injection to take effect, and then released Wufei from the chains. When his shackles fell, Wufei quickly tried to stand. Whether it was due to his injuries or the injection, he stumbled and collapsed again.

It took a moment for Trowa to lip-read DeBordaris’ words from the camera angle, but he figured he said something along the lines of _“you’ll wish you just drowned that night.”_

Very rarely had the pilots been physically assaulted when they were held prisoners. It had happened before, of course, when enemy soldiers turned off the cameras and felt like showing off to their friends. Lady Une was the only one twisted enough to permit such interrogation tactics in her Colonel days.

Trowa watched passively as Wufei managed to catch DeBordaris’ arm. He was thrown back with ease, however, and DeBordaris pinned him to the ground, throwing punch after punch.

It wasn’t long before pools of dark blood started to smear on the floor. Wufei continued to try to fight back as much as his body would allow, but he couldn’t do much. Trowa figured he must have been given a strong sedative—one that likely would have knocked a _normal_ person out in just a few minutes. He hoped that whatever it was numbed his fellow gundam pilot to the pain inflicted upon him, at the very least.

The video cut out briefly but resumed. The timestamp on the footage showed that it was a few hours after the initial assault. DeBordaris re-entered the room and grinned, asking Wufei how he was feeling. Wufei did not respond. He lay motionless, unbound, on the ground. The quality of the footage was too poor for Trowa to determine if he was still breathing.

DeBordaris picked up where he left off. If it wasn’t for the occasional twitch, Trowa would have said that Wufei was already dead. While the beating was brutal, it seemed that DeBordaris held back just enough to keep his prisoner teetering on the edge of life and death.

As the video neared its end, Trowa heard a _‘thud´_ come from the entrance of his tent. He snapped around, but didn’t see anyone. The canvas flap was waving, and there was a pile of folders scattered on the ground.

He didn’t bother stopping the video before he rushed out, looking for whoever had been spying. When Trowa exited into the darkness, he saw that there were a few soldiers walking about the small camp, but no one who looked like they had come from his tent.

Somewhere from behind him, Trowa heard Duo’s voice shouting.

“Jesus Christ, what is your _problem_?”

Trowa followed the sound of the aggravated pilot until he saw Duo and two other soldier’s struggling to keep Edan in one place. Her arm was up in mid swing, but Duo had caught it was trying to keep her from following through.

“Edan,” Trowa said evenly, “stop. I know you saw—I know you’re upset. Don’t do something rash. We need a plan.”

He put a hand on her left shoulder (her right shoulder was currently blocked by Duo’s arm) and squeezed. Edan tensed but then relaxed to the point where she was almost limp. The two rebel soldiers were the first to let go and back away from her, letting her left arm drop to her side. Duo was a bit more reluctant, but with Trowa’s reassurance, he released the woman.

“She just lost it when I tried to stop her. Heero asked me to keep an eye on her to make sure she didn’t flip out on one of the soldiers again. I thought sending her on a simple errand to drop of folders would be harmless,” Duo said through gritted teeth. He shook his head in irritation and glanced over at Edan, who stared at the ground.

Trowa did not release Edan’s shoulder. “We’ve received… a message… from Moira. We need to wake the others. Even Quatre, he needs to see this. Come on, Edan, come wait with me.” He turned the woman around and guided her back to his tent, just to make sure she didn’t try to run.

He sat Edan down in his chair after he moved it away from the computer screen. She sat down with no resistance and locked her eyes on the screen.

“I don’t want to restrain you,” Trowa said and knelt down in front of the woman, “I don’t want you to try to do anything without us, okay? If you go alone, they will have you, and then no one is safe. Wufei would never risk the lives of other for himself—you know that. He would be furious if you gave them exactly what they want. Understand?”

Edan gave no sign of registering Trowa’s words. He took her chin his hand and turned her head to look at him. They stared at each other for a few moments, but she ultimately nodded.

“Good. We have twenty four hours. I’m guessing you know exactly where they are, don’t you?”

 

It took just a few minutes for Duo to get Heero and rouse Quatre from his reluctant sleep. They gathered in the communication tent where Trowa had set out another chair for his injured, fellow pilot.

Trowa let the others read the message before he played the video. The group quietly watched the entire way through, and only Quatre was visibly upset.

“We should have known they had him when we couldn’t reach him,” he said and shook his head, “we should have known. Is there any way to track the video? How do we know where to find him?”

Before Trowa could respond, Heero spoke up. “What was that last frame? The text appears to be a link.”

Indeed there was a link embedded in the video. Trowa had not seen it the first time since he had left the tent after Edan, but he clicked on it regardless. It pulled up a video feed—if the time stamp was to be believed, it was a real time stream, likely to prove that Wufei was still alive.

“We can try to trace it and find out it’s origin,” Quatre said quickly, but Trowa shook his head.

“We don’t need to. Edan recognizes the room. It’s the basement of the Adelphie manor in Italy. If we go by air, we can be there in a few hours.” Trowa reached over to the mouse, but the woman stopped his hand.

Edan stood and highlighted part of the web address that linked them to the security feed. She looked to Trowa and waited for him to nod before she took the wireless keyboard and returned to her seat. The pilots watched as she tabbed around to open a blank document to communicate. She started by pasting the highlighted URL.

_PRTC8804._

_This is a code. This is meant for me. Protocol 8804-- > “Breaking the Seals.” In the event of CSO’s downfall, soldiers are to manually set their mobile suits and any mobile dolls to self destruct. The goal is to place them in the areas that will do the most damage to take out as much of the opposition as possible, civilian or otherwise._

“We’ve shut down CSO’s movement through so how—“

Duo realized the implications even as he spoke. The majority of mobile suits were still around the CSO medical clinics. While the clinics and the suits had been abandoned, they were in cities and towns all over the world.

_It is surely meant to distract you while I return to the manor._

“You aren’t going to the manor, it’s too risky. I will go rescue Wufei,” Heero stated. He and Edan stared at one another for a few moments before she continued typing without breaking eye contact.

_You will need to decommission me to keep me from going._

“Heero,” Quatre replied cautiously, “if she doesn’t go, they will kill him on sight. She has to go.”

_I know the importance of keeping me from Moira. Once Wufei is rescue, I will take the necessary measures._

The two _‘perfect soldiers’_ continued to silently stare at one another. While Quatre tried to list off reasons why Edan should be included in the rescue, Trowa observed the pair. He was sure that the two were having their own conversation, one that they had no intention of ever sharing.

“Fine,” Heero finally said, cutting Quatre off, “we have an agreement.”

Trowa stood from his spot leaning against the computer desk. “Here’s what I think—Red Horse can hold two extra people in the cockpit. If we send Edan, two more of us should go with her. It will appear that she is alone, so we at least have a shot at making it into the manor. If we can do that, we grab Wufei, take out DeBordaris, and maybe try to capture Moira. The public has turned against CSO. She can be justly punished for her crimes. If we can’t capture her… Well, we have to end this within the next twenty four hours, one way, or another.”

“Heero and me,” Duo said immediately, “it has to be us two.”

Quatre furrowed his brows in confusion. “What? Why you two? I’m not saying I should go, but what makes you say that?”

“Because if it comes down to it, I have the best chance of handling DeBordaris one on one, and Duo has a personal vendetta against CSO since they tried to turn him into a project,” Heero explained. “Am I right?”

Duo nodded, “exactly. You two can direct the rebel forces and get as many of the CSO suits and dolls disconnected from their self destruct.”

There was a heavy pause in the room before Quatre stood. “Alright, I think that’s for the best. You three make your plans to take off, we will meet with Carlino and figure out how to break up the rebels and the Maganac. I will send some off to Italy as well to get closer to the Adelphie Manor after you are in.”

“Let’s get in touch with Noin and Une. Zechs is up and moving, but it wouldn’t be wise for him to be in a suit right now, since his injuries are still healing. However, they can still lead the rebels in the north.”

000

Red Horse touched down on the pristinely manicured lawn of the Adelphie manor. There were no soldiers in sight, and only the mobile dolls that had been stationed there before the mass CSO shut down remained—completely lifeless.

“So let’s just go over this one more time,” Duo said slowly, before Edan could open the cockpit. “You know where all of the visible cameras are. Get out first, shoot the cameras, and then we will follow. Once you’re in, we will stay just far enough back for you to take care of the security, but we will provide back up if they try to jump you.”

The woman nodded and opened the door before disconnecting from the Red Horse system. True to the plan, she did not try to lock them in as she rode the lift cable down. The pilots watched from within as she cautiously crossed the grass, weapon drawn. One by one, she shot out the cameras, most of which wouldn’t have been visible to someone who didn’t already know where they were. When she fit the front door, Edan found that it was already unlocked. They saw her open it and let off two more shots before taking her time to reload and casually signaling for them to exit the gundam.

The interior of the manor was just as the pilots remembered, though it certainly looked less grand in the dark. There was barely enough light for them to see, let alone keep up with Edan, who knew the layout like the back of her hand. Duo and Heero had become separated from her rather quickly, but were able to follow her trail based upon the sound of gun shots.

“Wait,” Heero said, holding up his hand to keep Duo from continuing ahead of him, “I hear something.”

Knowing better than to question ‘the perfect soldier,’ Duo froze in place and also listened. There was a creek of the floor boards, and then something—someone—leapt from the shadows. Duo twisted his body to dodge, but Heero turned to face the attacker head on.

Vince DeBordaris grabbed hold of the gundam pilot and the two wrestled with one another, trying to pin their opponent to the ground or the wall.

“Edan,” Heero grunted, jerking his arm from DeBordaris’s grasp.

“Right,” Duo nodded and ran down the hallway, disregarding the cameras. Moira obviously already knew that they were there. He couldn’t worry about being stealthy.

000

“I was starting to think you wouldn’t show,” Moira purred with a grin, watching Edan through the security monitors. She was rather amused as she saw the younger woman look at each camera with a glare before shooting it. “Let the fun begin.”

She slid back from her work station and moved to the reclined, cushioned chair. There was a sort of head piece sitting on a small side table next it, with a series of cords hooked up to it. Moira kicked off her shoes and hopped into the chair sighing as she made herself comfortable. Once she felt she was ready, she placed the piece on her head, letting it cover her eyes and ears. It took a moment to position it correctly, but once she did, she was able to line up a particularly sharp point and push it into her skull—into the neurochip she had implanted some years earlier.

As soon as she was hooked up to the system, which now modified with the Zero system, there was a shaking and the few people in the house could feel as it started to sink below ground into protection mode.

 

Duo had lost Edan. He felt like he was running in circles. She had said that Wufei was being held in the basement somewhere, but he had no idea where to find the entrance. “Damn it!” He shouted, grabbing one of the decorative wooden tables lining the wall and throwing it. The ceramic vase that had been sitting on it hit the floor and shattered.

At the same moment, there was a rumbling and jolt, and suddenly he was moving. Well the house was moving. When they received schematics from Isabella all of those months earlier, he remembered seeing that it was equipped to go below the surface of the earth at least a few stories to protect it from a mobile suit attack or a biological warfare agent.

Maybe Moira was dropping the house to keep them from escaping. Maybe she thought she was going to be able to set off the CSO devices.

Duo turned around just in time to catch a brief flash of white. With a growl, he took off running, sprinting around the corner and diving into the spy. In a moment, he had Isabella pinned against the wall his gun against her head.

“Wait, wait, wait,” she breathed, putting her hands up in surrender and swallowing hard.

“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t shoot you right now,” Duo growled, pressing the cold tip of his gun harder into her skin.

“You need me, I’m the only one who can reverse the CSO procedure. If you kill me, there will be no one to help those people if something goes wrong.” Isabella looked completely serious, at least in Duo’s opinion, but she had looked serious for the months she was with him—them, with them. Her words hardly convinced him, even if they were the same as Trowa’s.

“Give me a good reason I shouldn’t shoot you in your knee caps to keep you in one place while we go stop your mentally disturbed sister,” he said and quickly pointed his weapon at her leg, applying more pressure to her collarbone with his arm to keep her in place.

“Because!” She was shrieking, her voice edging on hysterical. Good, he thought, she knew he was seriously considering doing it. “I can—I can take you to her. I will show you where Moira is. Her workshop is hidden. Even Edan won’t be able to find it. I can raise the manor again from there—right now, she has total control of this place.”

“Yeah? Why would you choose to help now, when you’ve done nothing but screw us over?” The house was still moving. They wouldn’t be able to escape if they didn’t get the house raised back to the main level.

The woman shrugged, but then froze again when he roughly pushed her against the wall again. “She was stupid to have taken Wufei. I tried to tell her that you all wouldn’t just let Edan come here alone. She’s too confident—she thinks she’s already won. But if you’re here, and if you’ll let me help, then she’s already lost. You can end it all now.”

Duo clenched his jaw and looked down the hallway. No sign of Heero or Edan. “You’re not real good about picking a side and staying on it, are you?”

“I just want to live through all of this. Lock me up when it’s all done, I don’t care. I just want to live.”

He stared at her for a few moments and then quickly stepped back. He actually felt that those were the most honest words he had heard from her. “If you betray me, betray any of us, I swear I will not hesitate to put a bullet through you—it might be your head, it might be another part of your body. But I swear to all things unholy, I will make it hurt.”

Isabella swallowed again and quickly nodded, lowering her hands to her side and doing a quick spin to show him that she was unarmed. “I fully believe you. Follow me. Edan’s probably already found Wufei, which means we don’t have much time to stop Moira.”

000

Edan ran down the stairs to the basement, taking the steps two at a time. The lights were on in the stairwell, compared to the rest of the house, which was mostly dark. Even if she wanted to spare a moment to think about the oddity, she was too focused to stop.

Once she reached the door, she adjusted her grip on her gun and crept forward. She had not seen DeBordaris yet, and she thought he would surely be waiting for her on the other side of the door. She placed her hand on the metal handle and pushed it down, throwing the door open. For a moment, she thought that perhaps she had been wrong, and that Wufei was not being held in the basement.

When she stopped inside, kicking the motion activated light on, she saw his bloodied form lying in the center of the room, still bound to the floor. She haphazardly shoved her gun into her belt and ran forward.

He was stirring by the time she reached him, opening just barely, as if the little light in the room hurt them. She helped him sit up and looked at the shackles, trying to see if she could get them off.

“Foolish woman,” he muttered, though it barely came out as more than a whisper since he hadn’t had water for hours. “It’s a trap.”

Edan shrugged and waved him off. Of course it was a trap.

Wufei tried to escape her hands and sit on his own, but wouldn’t let him. She used her sleeves to wipe off the blood and sweat that covered his face and neck. “She’s up there watching. She said she wanted you here alone.” He nodded upwards and she followed his gaze.

The ceiling of the room was a large mirror. It helped the lighting in the room for when the engineers were working—usually on parts Adelphie wanted kept out of the main workshops for one reason or another. Edan had never thought to question the ceiling choice beyond that.

She stood up and motioned for him to cover his face while she withdrew her gun again. He looked at her in confusion, after all, he was still drugged, dehydrated, and exhausted. She motioned at him again and pointed to the point where his shackles were connected.

“Are you crazy?” His voice would have had more force behind it, if it didn’t sound like he was going to cough up his lungs. She shrugged and stepped back, keeping it pointed. He quickly raised his arms as high as they could to cover his face.

However, she never fired. When he braved a peek at her, he saw that her eyes were squeezed shut, and her head was tilted. After another moment of nothing happening, he lowered his arms and watched as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Then her hands were at either side of her head, squeezing.

Though he couldn’t hear it, Edan heard a debilitating ringing noise in her ears—but not just her ears, it vibrated throughout her head and her entire body. When she tried to open her eyes, she couldn’t focus. One moment, the room was the mostly dark basement, the next, it was a slightly red tinted gazebo.

000

_“This wouldn’t have happened if you had been the good little soldier you were supposed to be,” Moira appeared behind Edan in the red world, stepping into the gazebo and running her hand along the carved banister. “You would’ve been smart enough to let the fool die. I suppose it works out for me, though.”_

_Edan whipped around, trying her hardest to return to Wufei’s side. Though she may have been physically next to him, she couldn’t see him. She couldn’t see anything but the red world._

_“The Zero System is a wonderful thing. I can pick apart your brain now, just because you’re within my range. With a little bit more time, I doubt anyone would be able to evade me. No… I will wipe out all of the unworthy souls, and leave just the ones I want. I will know everything they know, I will see everything they see. I will truly be omnipotent.”_

_Moira disregarded Edan herself and placed her palms on one of the pillars of the gazebo._

_“All you have to do is give me the code, Edan. If you give it to me, you can free your gundam pilot and walk out of here. You’ll live just long enough to say your goodbyes before you both get a dose of our gas. Or, I will extract it from you, piece by piece, and you’ll probably die in the process.”_

000

Isabella stopped when they reached a particularly long wall. She slid a picture, one of an angel raining fire down upon the earth, off to the side to reveal a keypad.

“You  know, Duo, I really did enjoy the time I had with all of you. I wish things hadn’t turned out the way they did,” she sighed and started to press a few of the buttons.

“You mean you wish you were winning,” Duo laughed dryly. She shrugged and shook her head.

“I’ve never had friends. Only people who wanted to use me. I have always been afraid of what would happen if I wasn’t useful anymore. I did what I thought I had to do to make sure I lived. I was wrong—but I didn’t know I had a choice until it was too late.” The wood panel moved forward slightly and then slide to the left, revealing the opening to another room.

Duo did not feel she deserved an answer—she did not deserve any sort of reassurance or forgiveness.

“There she is,” Isabella sighed and stepped to the side, letting Duo look into the room. Just as she said, the door was hidden, and he wouldn’t have likely found it on his own. The room was a large workshop, filled with monitors feeding to the security cameras—most of which were nothing more than static—and grounded workstations.

What Duo found most interesting was the fact that a section of the room was nothing more than glass. He could stand and look down at a mostly dark room, and he was sure he saw both Edan and Wufei below. Moira was in one corner, reclined and relaxing as if she were receiving a spa treatment. “What the hell is this?”

“One way mirror. She could watch Wufei while he was captive, but he couldn’t see her.

“That’s sick…” Duo muttered and shook his head. He was about to turn to Moira when he saw Edan awkwardly swaying about. “What the hell is she doing?”

Isabella slowly walked over to Duo, keeping her hands in front of her and visible. “Oh, hm,” she said thoughtfully, “it looks like she’s already tapped into Edan. Well, you’ll want to work fast. If you don’t, Moira will probably come for you next, once she’s got what she wanted from Edan.”

Duo looked at her sharply. “Yeah? I’m the one with the gun, and she apparently hasn’t even noticed we’re here.”

“She has complete control over the Zero system. She doesn’t need her body to get to you now. While I did legitimately shut down CSO access to your neurochips, she can completely bypass all of my work. And, since your procedures weren’t complete, you’ll probably go insane within minutes. So, like I said, work fast,” Isabella said smiled. Duo fought the urge to smack the malicious look off her face.

“I don’t understand—what could she possibly get out of all of this?” Duo glanced between Isabella and the unmoving Moira, then focused on the intricate computer system that covered the wall to his left.

“All she needs is the encoding Edan corrupted. Once she has access to it again, she can clean it up almost instantly, and detonate all of the CSO devices—including all of the ones in the dolls. By now, she has them planted in enough areas that she could quarter the earth population in minutes. That’s not even taking into consideration the colonies she could drop.” The woman spoke matter of fact, as if the sheer number of lives lost did not affect her.

Of course the thought of the gases being unleashed onto the Earth was appalling but… “Drop the colonies? Seriously? Why is that _every_ terrorist’s plan!?”

“Maybe because humans were never supposed to live in space,” Isabella said with a shrug, “but it was a contingency plan. She’s had to move to plan B, with all of the hold ups. Oh, it looks like she may have almost got what she needed. What are you going to do, Duo?”

Duo, the self proclaimed God of Death, decided that he would once again live up to that mantle. He stalked across the room to the immobile body of Moira and raised his gun. Two shots through the heart should do it—he knew that Quatre and Une wanted the Adelphie woman alive, but with so many lives at risk, he couldn’t chance it.

He shot off two rounds.

And then there was pain—pain he hadn’t thought possible, originating from somewhere at the base of his skull.

000

_”Damn it,” Moira hissed from her spot in the red gazebo, “I was so close! I cannot believe that forsaken sister of mine would lead one of them straight for me! We are not finished—I am coming back for you!”_

_With that, Moira’s image vanished from Edan’s created world._

_Her aim had been to try to return to her body, but she was not quick enough. The warmth and life she had felt beforehand disappeared, leaving her cold and in the dark. A moment of panic set in: was she dead? She had contemplated the results of death while connected into Hades-Zero system, but she had not thought she would find out so quickly._

_She dove into the next closest connection, and found, to her pleasure, that it was the mind of Duo Maxwell._

_”Do you really think you can get rid of me that easily?!” Her voice was a screech, and while it sounded like her, the reverberations that echoed through the newly forming virtual world did not. They sounded robotic._

_This world had a slightly violet hue to it, making it appear as forever night—though it probably was night time, if it was a memory from Duo. Moira found herself standing on top of a pile of rubble, with a broken church spire in front of her._

_“This can’t be real,” the braided man muttered once, twice, and then a third time. His eyes were wide as if he weren’t focusing on anything in particular, but also everything all at once._

_Unlike the red world Edan had created, this world was vivid. With each passing second, more detail sprung into being. Bodies appeared and their faces sharpened into exact features, well, for those who still had faces._

_“You killed me, didn’t you, Duo Maxwell,” Moira stated loudly, drawing his attention to her, he looked as though he was looking at a ghost. “How fitting that you should end up here.”_

_“This is Hell,” he said quietly, “I’m in Hell. I don’t remember what happened, but I must be dead. This is too real.”_

_Moira’s smile widened to the point where it was unnaturally large. A person shouldn’t have been able to grin so identically to a Cheshire Cat. And then she laughed, her laugh filled the world and engulfed Duo, causing him to reflexively cover his ears. Soon, the corpses around him were laughing as well._

_Yes, this would be his Hell. If she were to be doomed to never enter the living world again, then she would surely make sure he suffered for her own enjoyment._

_“I think we’ll have plenty of time to play together, Duo Maxwell. For now, I think I will let you enjoy the world you’ve created for yourself.” She stepped backwards, and soon, she disappeared from the violet world as well._

_Her absence did not make the world any better. Duo was left standing, staring, and screaming as he was taunted by the faces and voices from his past._

000


	23. Part II: Verse IX

****

After Colony: Revelation

Part II: Verse IX

000

 

Heero could safely say that he had never been in a fight like this in his entire life. Of course he had been in numerous “ _fight to the death”_ matches, but he had never been hanging on by such a thread in his life. The problem was the fact that DeBordaris no longer seemed human—and that was really saying something, coming from Heero.

Even if Heero put all of his might into a punch that should have broken a normal person’s neck, his opponent simply rebounded. He was using every tactic he knew just to make the man stay down. Heero had already lost his gun, having it knocked away somewhere in the dark when DeBordaris initially tackled him.

Unlike the neurologically enhanced CSO soldier, Heero knew he was feeling pain though he worked to suppress it and move on. His left shoulder was dislocated, his knee was very nearly busted, and he probably should have been unconscious with a concussion by now. Heero had blood running down the side of his temple, lip, and nose, but he continued on.

DeBordaris had blood pouring down his face as well, but he made no motion to wipe it away. He likely couldn’t even feel the liquid at that moment. While Heero was sure he had managed to fracture a fair share of DeBordaris’s bones, it hardly seemed to make a difference.

They had somehow managed to make their way to the second floor, fighting their way up the grand staircase and around the railed in hallways. It was hard to see where he was going in the dark, though it didn’t seem to faze DeBordaris. Heero had just a brief moment of reprise before his opponent ran at him again—this time with some sort of sickening gurgle.

He was wild in his movements, no longer as precise as he once was. Heero had to wonder if there was some sort of issue with his neurochips, because it was such a drastic change. Whatever it was, however, couldn’t have come a moment too soon. DeBordaris jerked forward to try to grab him, and Heero quickly ducked down. He kicked the man’s legs from under him, then Heero used his force from springing back up to lift the man as he started to fall a top of him.

Though his arm may have been dislocated, he had enough power and control raise the heavier man over the railing and let him topple over the side. Heero hurried to look below once he heard DeBordaris’s body hit the floor.

He had grazed one of the large, heavy marble statues. Heero found he was slightly holding his breath as he watched the chiseled statue, which was much taller than the average man, teeter for a few moments from being hit with such force, and then lean forward. Before DeBordaris could come to his senses enough to move, the statue collapsed onto him with a sickening ‘ _crunch.’_

It might not have been the way he had been trained to take out an opponent, but Heero accepted the fact that in fighting an unusual enemy, unusual measure needed to be taken.

“Duo…” Heero muttered looked around, trying to get his bearings. He ran back around to the grand staircase and hurried down, his knee making an awkward popping sound, retracing his steps towards where they were separated.

It took him time, too much time, before he heard gun shots—two of them. He turned the corner and headed in the direction he believed he heard them from, but was faced with a few different hallways. He paused to listen, and was rewarded with Duo’s sudden cries.

Heero tracked down the other gundam pilot within in moments.

He grit his teeth, regretting he didn’t have his gun as he entered the room. Isabella stood on one side, slightly hiding behind a high backed chair, and on the other was Duo letting out yells and groans with a bleeding body of a woman next to him. Heero assumed it was Moira, though her head was mostly obscured by some sort of head piece.

“Duo, _Duo_ ,” Heero said, raising his voice over his comrade’s cries, though trying to keep from startling him. He glared over at Isabella when Duo seemed not to have heard him. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything,” she snapped, keeping herself shielded—not that it would help if he decided to shoot her through the chair. “He shot Moira, then lost it!”

Heero carefully crept over to the bleeding body and checked for a pulse. The woman was certainly dead, there was no doubt about it. “How do I stop him?”

Isabella looked over at the gundam pilot, a sneer on her face. “How should I know, he’s the one who suddenly lost his mind. I suppose Moira got to him before he could do her in, that or…” She paused and looked to the side, raising a brow in thought.

“Talk fast if you want to live,” Heero said, stepping over to Duo and quickly snapping the gun from his hands. Duo didn’t even seem to notice his presence. Heero looked over him and shook his head. There was really only one thing he could do if he didn’t want Duo to hurt himself. He flipped the gun in his hand and struck the screaming pilot with the handle.

Duo’s mouth fell open as he quieted and fell to his knees. Within moments, he was peacefully laying on the ground. Isabella stood and walked out from behind the chair.

“It’s possible that Moira’s conscious is still inside the system. We theorized that if one of us with the neurochips were to die while hooked into the updated Hades system, the system that controls all of CSO’s networks, the information from the neurochips would simply download into the system, where it could essentially continue living through data transmissions,” she said, speaking quickly just as directed.

From down below, she could see that Edan’s internal struggle must have kicked back in, judging by her thrashing.

“That’s insane,” Heero replied in his normal deadpan voice. With no more screaming, the room was quiet—minus the sound of steady dripping from Moira’s blood and the fans running in her computer setup.

“It was insane, until she integrated the Zero System into Hades. That was her goal from the start—she wanted the Zero System so that she could control basically anything set up on an electrical grid. The only reason she hasn’t essentially stopped the world is because Edan unknowingly shut down the integral part of the CSO network. She’s confined to this house, for now. But as soon as she get’s access to the system again…”

“Understood.” Heero raised his gun and started shooting out the computer setup.

“What the hell?!” Isabella shouted and ran up to stop him, but he turned and pointed the gun at her. She skid to a stop and raised her hands. “If you do that, we’ll be trapped down here! At least let me raise the house again before you destroy everything!”

Heero stared down at the young woman for a few moments, gun still trained on her. Part of him severely wanted to shoot. However, he knew that she was right. If he wanted to get out, or more importantly, if he were going to get the others out, then the house needed to be back on the surface. He let Isabella slowly walk to the computer system and use whatever wasn’t damaged to reverse the security precaution.

000

“Get a hold of yourself, Edan,” Wufei shouted out with as much energy as he could muster, “focus!” It was useless. All he could do was pull weakly against his metal bounds and watch as the woman swayed back and forth, gritting her teeth and squeezing her head.

He did not know that Edan was seeing something completely different. However, the more he shouted, the more she could hear breaking through the barrier Moira had created.

“ _Stop fighting me,”_ snapped Moira, or some distorted version of her. Parts of the gazebo were disappearing as Moira was able to tap back into the encoding and reverse the corruption.

As the surrounding area switched from the red gazebo to the dark basement, Edan felt something akin t dizziness. She couldn’t quite focus on either. When she realized there was a gun in her hand, she couldn’t remember if it was real, or it was something she created. She pointed it at Moira regardless.

“ _Go ahead, shoot me, let’s see if it works this time.”_

“Edan, _stop_!” Wufei shouted and tried to move from one side or the other. The gun was pointed at him.

As the worlds became more convoluted, and the gazebo was barely left standing, the figure in front of Edan shifted from Moira to Wufei, and back again. She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut, backing as far away from the figure as she could. She was trying her best to get a hold on reality.

Regardless of which world was real, it was just about too late. Moira had almost pulled what she needed from Edan’s head and would be able to restart every piece of CSO technology across the world within minutes.

With one last look at Wufei, one he recognized as apologetic, she raised the gun to her own head and pulled the trigger.

_Bang._

Even though he heard the gun shot and watched her body fall in the corner of the dimly lit room, Wufei was left in disbelief. He didn’t even have the chance to tell her not to do it, that there was no reason for her to take the cowards way out. But he didn’t know what was going on in her head. He couldn’t have fathomed her reasons. And he was still chained to the damned floor.

Wufei resumed his struggle with his bonds, not caring that his wrists were in almost shreds. If he had been able to, he would have easily have broken his hand to try to slip from the metal shackles. The pain he felt hardly even bothered him—it was the tightness in his check and the pit in his stomach that kept him from focusing.

He looked over again at the woman’s form, hoping to see any sign of movement. But there was nothing. She was completely still.

000

The house started moving back toward the surface, just as Isabella said. However, it was not smooth, and she did not move away from the computer.

“What’s wrong?” Heero asked, a bit of aggravation in his voice—but only a bit.

Isabella growled in annoyance. “She’s definitely in here—that bitch! She’s trying to keep me from raising the house! I have to keep re-entering the command. Heero, do not be alarmed at what I’m going to do. All of our systems have a self destruct command –”

They heard a gunshot go off below them. Heero stepped back and walked to the section of the room with the glass floor. Almost directly below him, in the corner of the basement room, he could see Edan on the ground, gun in her hand, and blood starting to pool around her head.

“Edan. She’s dead.” He looked over at the blonde woman, who once proclaimed to be Edan’s friend, for any sign of… well, anything.

Isabella paused what she was doing, staring at the screen before giving a small nod. “I see,” she whispered. The house lurched once more. She cleared her throat and started speaking again. “As I was saying, there is a way to self destruct Moira’s system from here. I am going to do it. It will keep her from trying to lower the house while we’re escaping.”

“Do it.”

She continued typing and then quickly rolled backwards in her chair as a high pitched humming could be heard. Within an instant, there was hissing and sparking, and smoke coming from behind the computer set up. “There that should take care of it.” Though the house continued to rise, it was not smooth.

“Where are the keys to Wufei’s cuffs?” Heero asked, taking a moment to go look over Duo. While he wasn’t ready to let his guard down, it seemed that their initial mission had been completed. Moira was eliminated, as was DeBordaris, and unfortunately Edan, it seemed.

Isabella shrugged. “That I don’t know. While I can’t say this is the first time someone’s been locked up in the basement of one of my father’s houses, I don’t know where they keep… that sort of stuff when they aren’t using it. If I were to guess, I would say Vince would have had them. Moira has no pockets.”

Heero looked over at the dead woman and confirmed that she had no pockets—unless they were back pockets. He doubted she would have held the keys since DeBordaris was seen locking and unlocking Wufei’s bonds in the video they received. “We’re going to the front. Vince’s body is in the main hall. I will come back for Wufei when we have the keys.”

Opening her mouth to interject, Isabella quickly thought better of it and nodded. Heero bent down and hoisted Duo over his shoulder: not for the first time, but hopefully for the last. He had to put him over his right shoulder since his left arm wasn’t fully functional. Regardless of the amount of strength he may or may not have had, he grabbed Isabella with his left hand and pulled her with him.

“Don’t think this makes up for what you did,” he stated as they started walking. Even though Isabella likely would have been able to pull away without much of a problem, she allowed him to guide her along. He thought perhaps it was a gesture of good faith.

They hardly stopped along their march to the main hallway, despite the rockiness of the house. If they had, they might have smelled the smoke that was coming from the control room and the distinct odor of an electrical fire. With the self destruction of Moira’s system, which had its structure damaged by Heero’s bullet holes, came the shutdown of the entire emergency system, including the smoke detectors.

When they reached the open area in front of the grand staircase, Heero nodded over to the slightly crushed corpse of Vince DeBordaris. “Look for the keys,” he directed.

Isabella looked at him, horrified. “Me? But… he’s dead! He’s smashed! I don’t want to touch that!”

Heero looked at her, giving her a hard look. “You were willing to take part in a genocide, but you don’t want to touch one corpse?” If he had been an emotional person, he would have already displayed his extreme hatred for the blonde woman. If she had not already known and expected that, the way his words almost seethed certainly reinforced that statement.

Isabella gulped and nodded, looking down at the gun he held tightly in his right hand.

She cautiously walked over to DeBordaris’s body as if afraid it would spring to life at any moment. When he did not move, she knelt down and started reaching into his pockets. It was hard for her to do while trying to ignore the dark blood that seemed glossy even in the dimly light hall. Her first try was unsuccessful so she walked around to his other side. “I think I found them.”

She stood and wiped her hands on the bottom of her pants, trying to wipe off any of the blood before she even had a chance to look at her hands. Getting her hands dirty like that hadn’t exactly been her thing. Isabella started to head back over to Heero and the unconscious Duo when the house gave a creek. “Oh, that doesn’t sound good,” she muttered and looked around.

“I thought you said you destroyed the system,” Heero said.

“Well, I did. But I suppose it could have created a domino effect and started knocking out some of the other, basic grids. That certainly wasn’t my intention…”

“Intention or not, we have to get out. Take Duo.” Heero walked over and tried to move his comrade onto her back, but she quickly stepped away.

“Woah, no, I can’t do that. I have basically no strength, you know that by now. I won’t get very far,” she insisted, looking over at the exit to the hall, as if to wonder if she would make a run for it

“If you don’t get him out, I swear I will shoot you and leave you to die in this house,” Heero said, stepping towards her again.

She frowned and perhaps pouted a little. “Everyone is swearing to shoot me, I helped in the end, didn’t I?” Reluctantly, she accepted Duo’s weight onto her back, putting her hands under his legs while Heero draped his limp arms around her neck. He opened her mouth but she cut him off. “I know, I know. I will get him out. Here’s the keys. I don’t know the right key.”

Heero gave her one last look as she turned her back and slowly started trudging towards the door. Once he felt he could trust her on Duo’s escape, he looked at the keys in his hand and ran back down the hallway towards the basement door. That, at least, he knew how to find without a problem.

000

Wufei let out a growl in frustration. His wrists were numb and he seemed to have no way out on his own. He wanted desperately to try to get to the body in the corner and see if there was any way to save the woman’s life. But to no avail.

He slumped forward, trying to find his drive to keep fighting, but it was ~so hard.~

He looked back up where he heard a crack. At first, he thought he was hearing things, but then there was another, and another. He looked up at the mirror above him and saw that part of it was starting to bend and crack. It was the part of the mirror that covered the section of the room separating him from Edan.

With each lurch of the house, the spider webbing in the mirror became worse. He barely had time to duck down and cover his head before there was a shattering sound and shards of glass covered him and the ground. He could smell smoke immediately after. He tried to clear the shards off as best he could, but he was quickly distracted by the sparks and flames starting to rain down from above.

Once the integrity of the mirrored section was compromised, it wasn’t long before some of the other flooring started to crumble as well. He heard a few small ~pops~ and then what sounded like a small explosion. Something electrical above him was completely destroyed.

Another rumble from the house and two chairs fell down into the basement room—one was on wheels, the other was a high backed wooden one that was followed shortly after by a matching chair and an end table. Some of the sparks and flames quickly managed to catch the upholstery on fire.

“Wufei,” Heero’s voice rang out behind him, and he scrambled to turn without cutting himself on the glass.

Heero had his mouth covered with is arm as the smell of burning wires and circuitry filled the room. The smoke mostly stayed to the room above, but they had enough to deal with considering the rain of sparks and embers. Heero knelt down and started flipping through the keys to try to find the match. It took four tries to find the right one, and that lucky since they had about ten more to try.

Once he was out of his shackles, Wufei tried to stand, but found that his legs refused to move very well on their own. His injuries had caused his muscles and tendons to tighten, and he could barely limp. He turned to try to get past the spray of fire, as there was a sudden lurch downwards.

“The house is sinking again, we have to get out,” Heero said, grabbing Wufei and pulling him towards the door.

“We can get her—we can get her out too. She’s not far—” Another lurch and it felt like they had dropped a few more feet.

“She’s gone Wufei, let it go. You know she’d rather you get out.” Of course Heero felt a little bit of remorse somewhere deep down. Edan had been a helpful ally through the entire CSO disaster. He identified with her more than the others could have possibly known. But Heero also knew that she had made her choice, a sacrifice based upon what Isabella said. If Edan was dead, it meant that a great deal many people could likely live.

Wufei’s face flashed with anger and he tried to pull away. Even if his own injured state, Heero still overpowered Wufei, who was still bogged down by days of torture and sedatives. He practically dragged Wufei to the steps. They fought each other the entire way to the top of the stairs. Once they were at the top, the smoke was much thicker and the house dropped down again.

Once they were a little bit away from the basement door, Wufei finally started cooperating and walking in the same direction as Heero. The Wing Zero pilot wasn’t fooled however. Even if he had resolved to escape, Wufei was unlikely to forgive either Heero or himself anytime soon.

There was another heavy drop, enough to send both of them to the ground. They reached out their arms to catch themselves, coughing as they inhaled the smoke. “We need to get to the second floor, the house has fallen too much for us to leave through the entrance.”

Wufei nodded but said nothing as he used the wall to steady himself. Heero took his arm and started moving them at a faster pace.

The great hall was mostly clear of smoke. It’s ceiling was so high that the amount that had made its way over went straight up, giving them a chance to breathe. Wufei pulled his arm from Heero as soon as they hit the stairs, using the railing to guide himself up without the other pilot’s help. They had barely reached the top when the house screeched and its descent started speeding up. It was no longer the occasional lurch, but a full on collapse.

Not far from where Heero had tossed DeBordaris over the railing, there was a rather large, stained glass window. He could see the light from Red Horse outside, meaning that the window was still above ground. Heero raised his gun and shot out some of the glass. “Can you make it on your own?”

Wufei nodded, stranding straighter. All he had to do was jump out a window. He could barely be more injured than he already was—except, of course, being dead.

“I’ll go first, break the glass, and move. Don’t wait more than two seconds. Maybe you’ll be closer to the ground then.” Once they nodded in confirmation, Heero ran forward, using his injured arm to cover his face since he’d rather have on damaged arm than two. Out he went, falling just about ten feet to the ground, luckily.

He rolled out of the way and waited for Wufei. Two seconds past and he didn’t come. Heero thought for a moment that the other pilot had been stupid enough to try to go back to the basement. But no. After two more seconds, he was out the window, falling only about two yards. He groaned and slowly laid on his side.

Five minutes was all it took for the house to be almost fully below ground. Five more, and it was sitting at the bottom of a pit. The security doors did not shut over top, so they watched as over the next few hours the house was consumed by a fire. Isabella stood some distance away, Duo’s body dumped haphazardly behind her.

Watching the house burn was like watching the pits of Hell rage. It was a fiery inferno for the damned, with Hades, Death, and War doomed to smolder within.

Wufei was the first one to stand and limp away, disappearing somewhere off behind Red Horse.

Heero eventually pulled out his communicator to call up Quatre.

“ _It’s done, isn’t it?”_ The blonde pilot said as soon as he picked up.

“Yeah.”

“ _I could tell. This pain I’ve had in the back of my skull… it went away a little while ago. I haven’t felt this well since before I was taken.”_

Heero didn’t respond, and when he remained silent, Quatre decided to continue speaking.

“ _Our men have been very efficient in disarming the CSO devices, as well as any explosives left in the Seals. We still have a lot of ground to cover, but as of yet, nothing has gone off, nor is there any sign of power being restored to the CSO weapons or facilities. The two hardest tasks will be disposing of the chemicals properly and getting the mechas moved from the cities affected. I suppose next will be doing check ups on everyone who might have gone under the knife. We’ll get through it.”_ Heero could hear Quatre let out a sigh—a content sigh, but a sigh nonetheless. “ _Anyhow, I’m rambling. If you’re ready to go, we will send transport. How many do we need to pick up?”_

 “Four,” Heero replied.

_“Only four? Just the four of you?”_

Apparently Quatre had expected them to leave with a few war criminals to prosecute. “Just four. We will need transport for Red Horse.”

There was silence, and then he seemed to understand. “ _Oh… I see. We’ll have men there within the hour, just hold tight.”_

Their communication ended and Heero sat, staring down at the flames below. It dawned on him after he looked at the time that it was Halloween.

000

Cleaning up after CSO took almost a year. The Seals and mobile dolls had to be dismantled in place because they were simply too hard to try to move about. All of the company’s assets were seized and used to pay out the workers doing the dismantling first, then to pay for medical costs of people who had adverse side effects to the neuro procedures. What was left was divided up for disaster relief (for the residents and families of Rio de Janeiro victims,) and the new Preventers cause.

Many of the rebels were hailed as heroes for standing against CSO. Some chose to continue their work and join the Preventers, Carlino among them, while some decided to do safer work. Some were eager to start back into the Mars Terraforming project.

Noin and Zechs were not amongst those heading off for the red planet. Seven months after Moira’s end, Noin gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Sally. She and Zechs worked for the public affairs department of the Preventers, though Zechs was hardly thrilled to be doing paperwork instead of battle tactics.

Une eagerly resumed her position as the Preventers Chief, though this time around, she was certainly in the spotlight more often. All of the governors who had chosen to side with the rebels pledged support to give the Preventers the authority to act worldwide, with less red tape than before. Une, of course, promised that there would be no abuse to this power and agreed to a council made up of representatives from all of the nations. The colonies had yet to be on board with the idea, though a few reluctantly participated.

For once, they hadn’t been the ones feeling the destructive powers of war.

Sally was given posthumous ranking and medals since she had been one of the major rebel leaders and a former Preventer.

Relena sat on the World Council, and was elected as the Council Speaker. Her voice carried weight wherever it went, so it was only right that she continue to use. While the Council itself wasn’t a governing body, it certainly helped in recreating the unified Earth.

Dorothy had not made it onto the World Council during the first round of elections, but she was avidly working towards getting her own spot. Until her next chance, she accepted an offer to work on the Preventer’s financial board. Almost immediately, she caught one of the other members trying to embezzle money. Not only was he out of a job within the hour, but she had his face plastered just about everywhere. The man likely wouldn’t have a job with responsibility for some time. Needless to say, after that incident, everyone was suitably terrified of the woman. Her department currently runs the most efficiently.

Quatre was also placed into the limelight, no matter how hard he tried to avoid it. People liked him. They liked his voice, his smile, and his eyes—he had _kind eyes._ People trusted him. When it came to revealing Moira’s death and the fate of CSO, he was the one standing with Preventer Une and reassuring everyone that it would _‘be okay.’_

But it wouldn’t be okay. Not for many people, Duo included. After he awoke some weeks later from his unconsciousness, his comrades could tell he was just not quite… right. Whatever had happened to him had done its damage. CSO had broken him, at least slightly, in the end. While his cheerful nature would occasionally peak through, it seemed that his smile no longer reached his eyes. Sometimes he would become jumpy for no apparent reason, sometimes he would have a conversation with someone who wasn’t there. That’s what Hilde said, at least, when checking in with Quatre. She had taken him back _‘home’_ to the scrap yard, and he did alright there… for the most part.

Nothing Isabella did could fix Duo. Not that the Preventers let Isabella do much without being constantly monitored. She worked tirelessly to help whoever she could with their implants—at all hours, with little sleep and Preventers looking over her shoulders. She wore anklets that worked as tasers. It was meant to keep her in check, but within a few months, she was already damaged herself. Some of the men assigned to her detail found whatever reason they could to set off the devices. When the abuse was finally discovered, Trowa was asked to personally watch over her.

He may not have liked it, but he supposed he was a good choice. He wouldn’t succumb to her smooth talking, but he wouldn’t torture her either. He would have rather have returned to the circus with Catherine, but so long as Isabella was helping people, then he would give up his time to make sure she could do her job.

Heero’s Preventer title was listed as ‘Undisclosed.’ He worked as Relena’s bodyguard from time to time, but sometimes he disappeared for long periods of time. He told no one of what he was doing, though Une seemed to know enough to cover for him when need be, and pay for his expenses. He would always be a soldier, and peace didn’t sit well with him. The thing with mankind, however, was that there was no such thing as peace. It was an illusion, something people craved and naively embraced. He did what he could to maintain that illusion from behind the scenes.

Heero and Wufei have not exchanged words since the Adelphie Manor mission. For that matter, _no one_ had really spoken with Wufei. He had turned down any offers from Une to officially join the Preventers again, saying that he only did it before because he enjoyed working with Sally. Quatre was the one person who managed to speak with him, and the two periodically kept in touch, though Quatre did not discuss whatever it was that they were working on.

_“He has a lot of anger,”_ Quatre once told to Trowa on one of their visits, _“and he’s held onto things he should have accepted and let go a long time ago. He thinks he isn’t emotional, and that he shouldn’t feel things. He needs time to figure out that it’s okay to be a human. Not all of us are cut out for ‘the perfect soldier’ lifestyle.”_  

Even though Quatre tried to claim it was soul searching, they were certainly working on something—he frequently put aside a small budget that was dedicated to Wufei’s _‘consulting efforts.’_[ _  
_](https://www.facebook.com/messages/Aeternus.Flamma)

So, in the end, it seemed that humanity was always destined to repeat their mistakes. The best that they could do was try to learn from the last one and try to be better the next time around. If there was a next time ( _when there was a next time,_ ) they could only hope that it wouldn’t be a mad tyrant and his equally-or-more-so-mad daughter hell bent on living out the Book of Revelation.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes: So that is it, that is the end to After Colony: Revelation. Thank you to all of my wonderful readers and reviewers who have stuck with me until the end. I started writing this in 2008, though it took a great deal of editing and some plot changes by the time I finished it in 2015.
> 
> It was really hard for me to write the ending. I had literally planned out the scene where Edan shot herself and the house was consumed in flames for YEARS, but it didn’t make it any easier to do. (I bet you were all hoping Isabella would be the one to go…)
> 
> I may post a little epilogue that follows a piece of Wufei’s life two years after the end of the CSO downfall. I’ve had it written for a few months, but I am not known to give my characters ‘happy’ endings. If I post it, it’s likely because I may eventually write a short sequel focusing around Wufei and his post-war life.
> 
>  
> 
> So, a little bit of extra information for you (whomever you are, still reading this…)
> 
> Elisa Thrice’s (who is actually almost two years older than Wufei) life changed when her family suffered through a fire, killing her mother and wiping out everything she and her father had left. The fire started when there was an explosion in a workshop that ultimately led to the destruction of the employee housing building next door—this was the little island that Edan and Wufei landed on to wait for pick up after the Sanc battle. So, technically, Edan was born a citizen of Sanc.
> 
> She went by the name of Elisa until the incident where she saved another family from a fire during Wufei’s Lake Victoria Base attack, where she disobeyed her direct orders. After they finished her final neurochip procedure, they wiped out the personality of Elisa to create “Edan.”
> 
> Edan (pronounced “Ee-Dan”), is of Gaelic origins meaning “fire.” She was designated as the pilot of Red Horse with the code name War, which is the horseman most associated with fire.
> 
> And then she ultimately died in a fire.
> 
> So, fire was very important to this story.
> 
>  
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed it if you managed to stick it out this far. If you are a logged in user and review with anything you feel was left unanswered, I will do my best to respond to you.
> 
> I may just leave it up to the readers to decide if Wufei gets a happier(ish?) ending or not, and if you would like to see what he ends up doing with the rest of his life.
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you all for your support! I couldn’t have done it without you!
> 
> Ever your servant,
> 
> A.F


	24. Epilogue

After Colony: Rebirth

[Epilogue to _After Colony: Revelation_ ]

Aeternus.Flamma

000

It had been two years—two long years. Wufei was growing tired of his constant traveling, but he wasn’t exactly thrilled with the prospect of choosing a place to settle down. Quatre kept him busy enough, so he could hardly complain. Though he wasn’t ‘officially’ a Preventer, he was still on their payroll.

CSO ‘Gen Two’s’ weren’t keen on talking to the Preventers. After the disbanding of CSO, the soldiers who had undergone neuro-enhancements were quite willing to fall into the background. Most used their impressive skills to carve out new lifestyles: running their own auto repair shops, performing in acrobatic shows, teaching wilderness courses… Wufei had seen all sorts. He created a registrar to keep track of the Gen Two’s, just in case something went haywire and someone needed tracked down.

He wouldn’t have agreed to the task if Quatre hadn’t suggested it and promised that the registrar was his own private project. Neither pilot had any desire to have the soldiers rounded up and placed in one location together. It wouldn’t look good for the Preventers to start making containment camps, and they couldn’t very well kill masses of people who wanted to just live out their lives in peace.

They never talked about it, but Wufei knew why Quatre had asked him to sign onto the project, and not someone like Trowa or Heero.

After the fire at the Adelphie Manor, the rebels sent in a cleanup crew. They wanted to make sure that the CSO equipment was thoroughly destroyed. Two bodies were found, almost beyond recognition. It was with Isabella’s help that they confirmed that Moira and DeBordaris were certainly, fully, and completely dead. The neurochips that each of them had survived the flames since their bases were created with Gundanium.

A third body was never recovered. Wufei was told that the basement of the house took the brunt of the damage, having hit the ground with some force then been subjected to the flames. He was told that there was no way that anything could have survived, that almost everything was crushed or burned.

Yet still Quatre allowed him to travel each time a new medical record of interest crossed their paths. He still allowed for Wufei to look into each case and browse through all of the CSO ‘Super Soldiers.’

Wufei pinched the bridge of his nose and grimaced.

The smell of fish was vile.

He shoved his hands into his pocket as he stepped off the ferry, walking quickly across the perpetually wet dock. There were fishing boats lined up and down the wooden edge, and he was sure if he could get away, the odor wouldn’t follow him.

This was one of the oddest places he had traveled to thus far. The town itself wasn’t ‘off’—far from it. It was a very small town on an equally small island, just off of the coast of Maine. He had traveled to the United States a few times in recent years. He had found that the Gen Two’s were able to blend right in, particularly in the southern states. He had never been, nor planned on going, to Maine.

What was odd was the fact that there had been literally no record of Gen Two presence. There were no stories about any impressive feats and the town’s medical records were almost non-existent. In fact, the town only had a small practice; there was no hospital or chain facility.

He supposed that made the annoyingly small town even better for Gen Two’s to relocate. He wondered how long he would have to stay, since he really had nothing to go on.

Quatre just sent him the coordinates, and hadn’t answered him since.

The walk into town only took him about ten minutes. He hadn’t seen any taxis or many other vehicles, for that matter. It seemed as if most people were content to walk about from shop to shop. The town of Jasper’s Cover couldn’t have had more than a thousand people and he suspected most lived within the ‘town’ itself.

Right along the main street, he found a small bed and breakfast of sorts called the ‘Tranquility Inn.’ He rolled his eyes, wondering how anything in this town could be anything ‘but’ tranquil.

It was a cozy sort of place, done up in something of an early Victorian style. Most of the woodwork and furniture looked original and well kept. When no one came to greet him, Wufei tapped the small silver bell sitting on the front desk twice. A very startled looking woman came from another room behind him, looking as though she had fallen asleep.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” She said, covering her mouth as she yawned. “I wasn’t expecting anyone to be checking in today. Do you have a reservation?”

“No,” Wufei said curtly, “I’ve just got in. I couldn’t find any information online about hotels, so I figured I would wait until I arrived.”

The woman nodded as he spoke. “Yes, that does make sense, very little of our town information is on the internet. We like to do things the old fashioned way here—it’s been working for a very long time!”

He clenched his jaw in attempt to hold his tongue. He wasn’t in the mood for chatter. “Do you have any rooms available?”

“Well yes, of course. How long do you plan on staying?” She pinned her name tag in place once she stepped behind the desk. Her name was Maggie.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Maggie repeated, looking at him with a raised brow. “Oh, I see! You’re one of those ‘soul searchers,’ aren’t you? Well Jasper is a great place to give yourself a mental break and unwind a bit. I’m sure you’ll find it, well, tranquil!” She pointed to the “Tranquil Inn” sign above her head to reiterate the point.

“I’m sure.”

“We’re rather low on booking, and we’re nearing the end of the travel season… If you don’t mind a bit of an up-charge, our guest house is available. It’s just out back, through the garden. It does get a bit dark though, and if we have a lot of rain the walk way can be a bit muddy…

“That’s fine, I’ll take it,” he said, squeezing his duffle bag. He hoped he wouldn’t be in the town for very long, but he supposed having a separate building from the chipper woman and any other guests would be particularly preferable.

“Great,” Maggie said with a smile, “if we go with the long term guest plan, it will be three hundred and fifty dollars for a week. If you decide you would like to stay for the month, let me know and we can discount the payment. You can only stay until the end of September though—our off season starts then and the main Inn shuts down. Unless you sign a lease, you’ll have to find a more permanent location.”

“That’s fine,” he repeated and pulled out his wallet for his ‘business’ credit card. Maggie happily took the shiny silver card and swiped it.

It took another half hour for her to give him the keys to the guest house and leave him in peace.

Getting over to Jasper’s Cove had been a battle. Apparently, the ferry from the mainland only ran twice a day—once in the morning, and once in the evening, to carry any commuters back and forth. Wufei had waited around in a little café for two hours before he could hop on the rusted boat that still took over a half hour to get to the island.

As much as the queen sized bed, with a fluffy comforter and clean sheets that vague smelled like jasmine, called out for him to nap, he simply couldn’t bother with it. His clothes were wet and he would have to change, and he didn’t much feel like the hassle was worth it.

Instead, he would search out food. And, hopefully, start scoping out the locals. Wufei dropped his duffle on the creaking hard wood floor and opened it to unpack his toiletries. His hair was a mess from the ferry ride and he felt he was more likely to scare people away in his present condition.

When he went into the roomy but very chilly bathroom, he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror. He was twenty four now, going on forty. All of the gundam pilots, it seemed, looked older, or at least wiser, than their actual years. They had seen and done more than most would do in their lifetimes. They had done their fair share, and it wasn’t exactly unreasonable for them to think they had earned a new lifetime of reprieve.

With an irritated frown he set his stuff on the counter and quickly left the room.

The threat of rain seemed to hang in the air. The wind picked up, occasionally blowing leaves and dirt right by his face. This wasn’t the night for him to go exploring. Wufei found the closest restaurant and walked in, the door slamming behind him from the wind.

Eyes turned on him from every part of the room—from the bar a bit in front of him, from the four tops a bit behind the bar, and from the booths to his right.

“Don’t mind the door,” a gruff voice called out as it left the kitchen. An older, larger man came out carrying a crate of glasses. “It has a mind of its own when the wind is-a blowin’. Take any seat you want and grab a menu,  I’ll get Phe out here.  Phe!!” The man bellowed over his shoulder. A woman called back, though Wufei didn’t pay much attention to what she said.

He took a menu from the bar as direct and went right to the booths. There were nine other patrons in the restaurant—only two of them were at the booths, and sitting together. Wufei slid towards the window so he could watch the storm roll in and mind his own business.

“She’ll be out in a minute,” the man called out from over the bar. Wufei glanced over at him more properly now. According to his name tag, the man was Marty, and he was the owner of the restaurant. “What can I get you to drink? Soda? Iced-tea? Brew?”

“Iced-tea,” Wufei replied with a nod. Within moments, the man was filling him a glass and walking it over. He dropped it off and headed back to the bar with a limp, Wufei noticed. He made a mental note of it, though it was likely inconsequential, and sipped at his drink.

He was still looking at the menu, most of which was sea food, to his dismay, when the waitress walked over.

“Sorry about that, I was shutting the kitchen windows before the rain hit. What can I get you? Our specials for the day are the cob salad with a side of homemade clam chowder and shrimp fajitas. Just as a warning, all of our catch is fresh, so it doesn’t always taste the way tourists expect,” the waitress said, tapping her note pad with the back of her pen.

Wufei took a sip from his glass and turned to look up at the woman.

The moment he laid eyes on her, he swore his heart stopped as the wet glass slipped from his hands, hit the table and hit the cobblestone floor.

“Oh, no… Don’t worry about it, I’ve got it. Look what you did, Marty! You didn’t even give the poor guy a dry glass!” The waitress, Phe, quickly pocketed her little notebook and caught the towel her boss threw at her. She knelt down, rolled up her sleeves, and started to wipe up the tea and the chunks of broken glass.

His hands balled into fists and he fought to keep his composure. Was it a trick? An elaborate joke? No, it couldn’t be. He would recognize those green eyes anywhere, even if they were sparkling.

Wufei clenched his jaw so tightly, he thought his teeth would shatter. Her brunette hair was pulled up and he could see what looked like scarring on the side and back of her neck—burns. Glancing down further, he saw that the burns extended down to her left arm, almost to her wrist.

She glanced up and smiled at him, with no recognition in her eyes, which only made him more uncomfortable. However once she noticed he was looking at the burns on her arm, she seemed to become equally as uncomfortable and quickly pulled her sleeves down again.

“Sorry about that, sir, I’ll get you a new glass. Iced tea?” She hurried away, taking the glass and the towel with her.

Wufei watched her walk away, following her intently as she escaped back to the kitchen. Her voice… it wasn’t what he had imagined. He supposed when he heard her speak before, it was always Isabella’s voice—British with a slight Italian flair to it. Not so… American.

The waitress, ‘Phe,’ reappeared moments later to fill a new, dry glass with tea and walked back around with a smile. “Alright, that should be better. Do you need an extra minute?”

Wufei chewed the inside of his lip for a moment before folding the menu and setting it down. “What do you like?”

Phe put a hand to her hip and looked up towards the ceiling, looking deep in thought. “Hmm, I personally like the Maple Salmon dish, but that’s because my taste buds aren’t exactly up to par, and I need a lot of flavor in my dishes. Some people like it, some people hate it.”

“I will try that,” he said with a nod. She smiled and scribbled it down.

“Sure thing. I’ll put the order in. My name’s Phe, just give me a shout if you need anything, okay?” She turned and disappeared once more.

Wufei sat quietly for a few minutes, staring out the window as the skies darkened. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, looking at the last message from Quatre—the one with only Jasper Cove’s coordinates. He clicked reply.

_‘Leave of absence.’_

Two minutes later, his phone buzzed with a new message.

_‘Let me know if she needs anything.’_

While he waited on his food, Wufei wondered how much the lease was on the Tranquil Inn’s guest house.

000

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes: There wasn’t much feedback as far as opposition to an Epilogue, so I decided to just go ahead and post it. I wanted Wufei to have a chance at a happy ending.
> 
> To be clear, Edan is dead. Edan was created after the final neurosurgery, so that personality is gone. For anyone saying “that’s impossible, she shot herself in the head.” Well… I did a bit of research. First of all, surviving a head shot happens more than you would think. Additionally, it was mentioned much, much, much earlier that the neurochips were made out of Gundanium. Even after the fire, Moira and DeBordaris’s chips remained. The chip is severely damaged, but it ultimately saved to her life.
> 
> To quote Bruce Banner from the Avengers regarding his alter ego… “So what, he saved me? That’s nice, that’s a nice sentiment.”
> 
> If you read my one-shot for the Endless Reflection challenge, titled “His Daughter Is Not Weak,” then you know now why it could possibly count as a follow up to this story. At this time, I'm about 85% of the way through a sequel which follows Wufei's life on the island for a few months. It is called After Colony: Rebirth
> 
> Thank you for everyone who has been reading. After Colony: Revelation is officially complete! 
> 
> Ever Your Servant,
> 
> A.F

**Author's Note:**

> This is a novel length piece that has been in the works for many years. I am still looking for someone who would be interested in Beta-ing the remainder of the story. There are some romance ties throughout the story, though it is not necessarily a "Romance Story." Wufei simply doesn't get enough love from the fandom.
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> A.F


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